Having ordered 18-year-old Lleyton Hewitt to make his Davis Cup debut on foreign soil in the centenary fixture in Boston in 1999, the US face the payback of a second consecutive away tie against Australia if, as expected, the two rivals meet in the quarter-finals in April.
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Australia have already qualified for the last eight, with Saturday's doubles victory by John Peers and Sam Groth adding to the singles points earned by Jordan Thompson and Nick Kyrgios to deliver a 3-0 sweep against the Czech Republic at Kooyong. In Birmingham, Alabama, meanwhile, the US were just one point from victory over a depleted Swiss team missing Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, after Jack Sock and John Isner's successes on the opening day.
The compensation for the Australians reluctantly giving up their home-court advantage 18 years ago - in a quarter-final that a Pat Rafter-led team nevertheless won 4-1 - is the fact that the next two ties were guaranteed to be played in Australia. That, after a lengthy interlude, was last year's opening round, a 3-1 US win at Kooyong, and, probably, this year's April 7-9 quarter-final.
"It's obviously going to be strange having two home ties in a row, but they wanted to put me in Boston in my first match, so I'm definitely gonna take it," a typically combative Hewitt said after Saturday's 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 doubles win extended the Australians' set record to 9-0 for the weekend.
"But it's a tough ask. We lost to them in a pretty tight battle a year ago. They're a tough team, they're gonna be really strong, they've got four very good singles players and they can mix and match their doubles pairings as well, so it's not long between ties, which is probably good, because all our boys are playing reasonably well at the moment."
Clearly, the International Tennis Federation's decision to shift the 1999 clash to the Longwood Cricket Club to mark 100 years since the challenge between the US and Britain - who met as scheduled in England in the first round - still rankles the Australian captain, who revisited the issue last week with his US counterpart, Jim Courier.
"Both of [us] were a bit dumbfounded by the whole decision," he said. "For me, as it turned out, I would have love to played my first tie in Australia, which I thought it was gonna be, but we still went out there. Pat Rafter did amazing and I kind of just played second fiddle but for me to beat Todd Martin on day one, we had our prime minister there, their president at the time, it was pretty amazing scenes. And it was bloody hot, too."
Warm, too, at Kooyong on Saturday, while rain is expected for Sunday's best-of-three-set dead rubbers in which Thompson will probably play, and maybe Groth instead of Kyrgios. Hewitt described it as a "tough situation" when there is nothing to play for, and would prefer to utilise a young squad member such as teenage hitting partner Alex de Minaur.
"It would be perfect. We want guys to aspire to play at this level and represent their country. It doesn't have to go on any records in terms of stats and stuff, but I think sometimes ... it's just not very interesting for the crowd with what ends up happening on the last day.
"I think it would be much more beneficial to see that next generation coming through and it kind of gives those young guys a taste of it, as well, because Davis Cup, it's a different beast playing for your country instead of yourself. I know in my mind it'd be fantastic for Alex to get some experience cos one day he'll be up here playing."
