Melbourne VIC, Australia, 20 July 2016 | AAP/Reuters

Australia has been drawn to host Slovakia in its Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie in September.

A venue will be decided next month in a match the 28-time champion nation must win to preserve its place in the elite 16-nation of the premier international team event of men’s tennis.

Lleyton Hewitt’s team was beaten in the first round by the United States last March and last won the competition in 2003 when Hewitt, the current captain, and Mark Philippoussis inspired a 3-1 victory over Spain at Melbourne Park.

Slovakia is attempting to win promotion to the World Group from the Europe/Africa zone and is likely to be spearheaded by world No.28 Martin Klizan, the recent Hamburg champion and only Slovak with a top-100 ATP ranking.

Other former champions in the play-offs include Switzerland (travelling to Uzbekistan), Germany (hosting Poland) and Spain (away to India).

In this year’s semifinals, title holder Great Britain hosts Argentina in September while the French team travels to Croatia.