Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt will have to wait until next Tuesday before making the final decision on whether he will be playing in the Beijing Olympics.

The Australian, who has not played since the fourth round loss at Wimbledon to Roger Federer, is suffering a hip injury.

"I reckon by Tuesday afternoon we should know whether he's going or not," Hewitt's manager David Drysdale told the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday.

"I feel there's a very strong chance he's going to play, but I'm not going to say he's definitely playing because we can't rule out that he might pull up sore."

Drysdale said the former Wimbledon and U.S. Open winner did not rule himself out of the chance of being fit to compete at a second Olympics when the tennis event starts on August 10.

According to Drysdale, Hewitt returned to the practice court late last week after being forced out of the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters with the injury.

"He's been hitting again this week, and it's just about working out the levels of discomfort and whether some of the different bits and pieces (of treatment) that we've had done are making a difference," Drysdale said.

"We're all hopeful that he'll be okay. There's no doubt about it, he really wants to play the Olympics."

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)