MELBOURNE - Australian Davis Cup team captain Patrick Rafter has praised the Chinese men's squad, warning the Australians of their opponents' competitive attitude.

Australia and China will clash again in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I first-round tie at the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club near Melbourne from Feb 10 to 12. This follows their last meet in Beijing seven months ago.

Team Australia obviously holds all the cards for the battle - cheering home fans, higher ranked aces and more international experiences.

However, Rafter remains wary of the fighting Chinese players, who gave the Australians a scare by claiming the first rubber before the visitors battled back to gain a 3-1 final victory at the Beijing International Tennis Center last July.

"When you try your hardest out there, you never give in," Rafter said at a news conference to announce the Australian squad at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday. "You prepare as well as you can, and you always have a chance. That's the way I see the Chinese team.

"On paper, they're nowhere near as strong as our team. But in Beijing, they showed such a great fighting attitude. They could have been sort of semi-close to a bit of an upset.

"We lost the first match there. We were struggling in the second match. If we were down 2-0, it would have been very interesting.

"Again, it's all to do with their attitude, but I hope we can get through it pretty comfortably," said Rafter, winner at the US Open in 1997 and 1998.

The new Australian favorite Bernard Tomic and veteran Lleyton Hewitt plus promising young players Matthew Ebden and Chris Guccione will form a strong lineup to handle the Chinese challenge.

Rafter said he was unhappy with Tomic's performance last year, but said he saw improvements in the player's dazzling four-round run at the Australian Open over the past two weeks.

"I was very critical of him last year. He wasn't right in the head," said the former world No 1. "But he started the summer really well. His fitness has improved, his whole mental well-being is going in the right direction.

"He really impressed me here and he's going to be a very good player. He's showing all the signs to be in the top 10 this year."

Team China hasn't named its lineup for the meet. The ITF deadline for official team nominations is the end of the month, 10 days before the action gets under way.

China Daily

(China Daily 01/28/2012 page12)