Lleyton Hewitt crashed out of the French Open on Tuesday before turning his attentions to the summer's premier event, the football World Cup where he believes his native Australia can cause a surprise.

The Socceroos have been drawn in a tough-looking Group B in Brazil alongside defending champions Spain, the Netherlands and Chile.

But Hewitt hopes skipper Tim Cahill can engineer a shock result.

"We're definitely the underdogs, that's for sure. I was in South America end of last year when they did the World Cup draw, and I don't think it was too favourable for us," said Hewitt.

"But then again, I think that's a good position for us to be in. I think our coach is very good. He's done really well in local competition. And I know Tim Cahill a little bit, and he's a fantastic leader. Hopefully he can score a few goals for us."

Hewitt was knocked out of his 14th French Open on Tuesday by Carlos Berlocq, going down 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 but spent a large part of his post-match news conference discussing the World Cup with a Dutch journalist keen to get a prediction.

"I'd be a brave man to say we beat you, but I think we will be pretty aggressive and try and take it to you. We will see what happens......we'll win just on heart," said Hewitt of the match between Australia and the Netherlands in Porto Alegre on June 18.