Hewitt, Rafter, Agassi drawn in same Masters group

World number two Lleyton Hewitt was drawn in the same Tennis Masters Cup group as Pat Rafter and Andre Agassi on Wednesday, denting his chances at finishing the year as the world's top-ranked player.

The 20-year-old Hewitt, the U.S. Open winner this year, is just 48 points behind French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in the Champions' Race rankings ahead of the season-ending tournament which begins in Sydney on Monday.

Agassi is 39 points behind Hewitt and is the only other player in the elite $3.7 million tournament with a chance to take the top spot from Kuerten, who won the Masters tournament in Lisbon last year.

Top seed Kuerten heads the other pool, which also includes clay court specialist Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, Russian veteran Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic.

The four players in each group will play each other once in the round robin stage. The top two players from each pool will progress to sudden-death semifinals.

Hewitt will open the tournament on Monday with the first match of the so-called "John Newcombe Group" against Paris Masters winner Sebastien Grosjean.

Rafter, who could be playing in front of a Sydney crowd for the last time, will then take on Agassi in an action-packed first night.

Ferrero and Kafelnikov will open the "Ken Rosewall Group" pool matches on Tuesday, with Kuerten to take on Ivanisevic in the second match.

"If you see the names, maybe the (Rosewall) group looks easier but it doesn't matter what group," Ivanisevic said.

"You can play good and still lose all three matches. You play bad, for sure you lose all three," he told a news conference.

The top seven places in the tournament were filled by the leading seven players in the Champions' Race.

Ivanisevic, who beat Rafter in the final to win Wimbledon as a wild card entrant, squeezed in as the highest-ranked grand slam event winner outside the top eight ranking places.

But the lanky Croat, already taking daily pain killers for a lingering shoulder injury, said he might have scans on Thursday after stubbing his toe in the shower.

"It's swollen and not good," Ivanisevic said of his sore toe.

Germany's Tommy Haas is on standby as an alternate should any of the top eight players become unavailable.

Hewitt and Rafter will team up for Australia's Davis Cup final against France in Melbourne later in November.

Rafter plans to take a break from the game next year and has still not decided whether he will retire for good.

"This well might be Pat's last individual tournament that he plays," tournament director Brad Drewett said.