Australian tennis star Alex de Minaur feels no pressure to replicate his United Cup success when he returns to Ken Rosewall Arena.
The world No.9 returns to the Sydney court to take on Argentina's Tomas Etcheverry on Saturday in Australia's first Cup outing.
The Sydney product dazzled the tennis world in January with his inspired wins over giants like Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, using the local tournament to launch a career-best 2024 campaign.
Led by de Minaur, Australia reached the semi-finals before defeats in the women's singles and mixed doubles allowed eventual winners Germany to reach the decider against Poland.
But the 25-year-old, eager to enjoy home advantages, isn't worried about recapturing or outdoing last season's fairytale campaign.
"I've never associated playing in Australia as pressure," de Minaur said on Friday.
"I've always associated it as excitement and something that I'm looking forward to every single year because we don't get to do it as often as we would love to.
"Whenever we're back here, the season is starting, I know we're playing in front of our home crowd, and that's always exciting what I get up for.
"It always brings the best tennis in me."
Beyond once again using the tournament as a springboard for the Australian Open, de Minaur will be out to lead Australia to their first team title since the 2016 Hopman Cup.
Australia, captained by Lleyton Hewitt, were knocked out of the Davis Cup semi-finals by Italy in November after finishing runners-up last year.
Hewitt's team will also face Great Britain, featuring Billy Harris and Katie Boulter, in the group stage.
"The biggest thing is we keep knocking on the door," Hewitt said.
"We have come bloody close, but it's not an easy thing to do.
"You look at some of these teams that end up winning these team competitions, and they got some pretty awesome players, some generational greats, or legends of the game.
"Once again, we'll do all the preparation that we need, and hopefully we can go out there and execute, but we're certainly not taking anything for granted."
Young gun Olivia Gadecki takes on Nadia Podoroska to kick off Australia's United Cup campaign, before de Minaur plays Etcheverry followed by the mixed doubles match.
