Lleyton Hewitt has suggested that he may play through the pain barrier to assist Australia in their crucial Davis Cup tie against Chile in Santiago next month.

Hewitt, who hasn’t played in a tournament since losing in the 4th round of Wimbledon, has been struggling with a hip injury all season, and was a doubtful starter for both the Olympics and US Open until last week.

The Australian had been expected to miss out on the remainder of the season to undergo surgery, before a brief respite from the game combined with intensive therapy saw him recover sufficiently to travel to Beijing.

”It was sort of on a day-to-day basis and I was never going to fully commit until I knew that it didn’t flare up and wasn’t going to make it any worse, especially for my career going forward,” Hewitt said.

With his injury holding up, Hewitt is prepared to discuss assisting Australia in September when they take on Chile in an attempt to qualify for the Davis Cup World Group.

The Australian may find himself benefiting from another break from the game after his first round defeat of Jonas Bjorkman at the Olympics was rewarded with a second round draw against world number one, Rafael Nadal.