Lleyton Hewitt is on the verge of breaking one of his country's proudest sporting records when Australia begin their defence of the Davis Cup against Sweden in Adelaide on Friday.

The former world number one is just one win behind Adrian Quist's long standing record of 24 singles victories and could pass it if he wins his two matches.

Hewitt will get the chance to equal the record in his home town when he takes on Swede Robin Soderling in Friday's second singles rubber and could possibly better the mark against Thomas Enqvist in Sunday's reverse singles.

"Any record like that is pretty incredible and to have the opportunity to at least tie it in Adelaide would be an awesome place to do it," Hewitt told a news conference.

Australia's Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis will play Enqvist in the opening match of the World Group on Friday while Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs will pair up against Jonas Bjorkman and Joachim Johnansson in Saturday's doubles.

Philippoussis, the hero of last year's win over Spain in the final, has been at the centre of a public row over his disappointing showing at the Australian Open when he was knocked out in straight sets by Morocco's Hicham Arazi but the 27-year-old said he is unworried by the criticism.

"I'm not ever one for trying to get attention off the court, I just do my thing and I've got a job to do this weekend," he said.

"I'm looking forward to going out there and playing a solid match and trying to give Australia a one-love lead."

STRONG FAVOURITES

Australia are strong favourites to take the tie after winning the Cup for the 28th time last year but their non-playing captain John Fitzgerald is worried his players have not had a long enough rest.

Four of the last 11 champions have been knocked out in the first round and just three countries have successfully defended the title since the final round was introduced in 1972.

"It's an early start to the new year after we played the final in the last few days of November and now we have to play in early February," Fitzgerald said.

"It's difficult but we need to dig down and draw on the character of the players in the team to start afresh."

Sweden, champions seven times between 1975 and 1998, have never won a Davis Cup tie in Australia and were thrashed 5-0 when the teams last met in the quarter-finals in Malmo last year.

"We want revenge for that one," Swedish captain Mats Wilander said.

"But I think first of all we just want to win the match."

The odds all seem to be heavily stacked in Australia's favour.

Not only are they playing at home on hardcourt that perfectly suits their players, but the rankings all point to their success.

Philippoussis is ranked ninth in the world and Hewitt 13th while Soderling is 54th and Enqvist 78th.

Bjorkman is the highest ranked Swede at 28 in the world but is only expected to play doubles although he could play the reverse singles on Sunday.

"All of our players have a chance to beat any of their players," Wilander said.

"I think it could possibly be a little bit of an anti-climax for the defending champions to play soon after having won Davis Cup.

"At the same time they're obviously full of confidence and I would think they want to keep the streak going."