Hewitt back as Aussie No.1
May 17, 2004

LLEYTON Hewitt has replaced Mark Philippoussis as Australia's top-ranked tennis player following his run to the Hamburg Masters semi-finals.

Hewitt has risen five spots to 12th in the new world rankings released by the ATP today, while Philippoussis has dropped five places to 18th.

Hewitt's surge up the rankings is a boost to his French Open chances as it will ensure he's seeded in the top 16 for the second grand slam of the year starting in Paris.

Hewitt, the long-time former world No.1, is sitting sixth in the 2004 Champions Race after capturing two titles and compiling a 23-6 win-loss record this season.

Philippoussis is languishing in 64th position having lost eight straight matches since the Australian Open in January.

Even the 87th-ranked veteran Wayne Arthurs is presently ahead of Philippoussis in 59th place in the Champions Race.

Swiss star Roger Federer continues to hold down both the world No.1 ranking and top spot in the Champions Race after winning the Hamburg Masters final overnight.

AAP

Hewitt coach brings new approach

March 9

By Jonathan Overend
BBC Tennis reporter




Sometimes the job of tennis coach can involve little more than booking the practice court and ordering the players' box tickets.
Every coach knows it's not always about the intricacies of a topspin forehand.

But Roger Rasheed brings his own unique qualities to the job of coaching Lleyton Hewitt.

And emergency doubles partner is the latest addition to the job spec.

When Mark Philippoussis withdrew from the ABN-AMRO tournament in Rotterdam last month, Hewitt was left searching for a team-mate.

Unexpectedly, he paired up with Rasheed, who hadn't played for 11 years, to beat Ramon Sluiter and Martin Verkerk in straight sets.

"I actually said to Roger, when I heard Mark wasn't going to be coming, that maybe we could have a game," Hewitt revealed.


"Everybody thought it was a bit of a joke, except for Richard Krajicek [the tournament director] who was good enough to give us a wild card. He had faith in us."


Rasheed added: "We were making out it was a Davis Cup tie, having a bit of fun with it.

"We rang John Fitzgerald, our Davis Cup captain, and said 'have a look at the result'.

"He thought we'd win three or four games and couldn't believe it when he saw we'd won."

Rumours that Mr Fitzgerald has to hand over a sizeable cash sum, wagered on the outcome, couldn't be confirmed.

Rasheed and Hewitt were mates way back when in Adelaide, South Australia.

A decent player himself, Rasheed's career was halted through injury when he was just 24.


AGGRESSION AND EXCITEMENT
After a spell as fitness trainer, Rasheed was promoted to the top job in May, after the French Open, when Hewitt split from Jason Stoltenburg.

"He's a very positive guy, a great motivator," said Hewitt.

"Fitness-wise he's brought a lot to the table, much more than being just a tennis coach.

"We also get on very well and in tennis, that's probably the main thing."

Rasheed's keywords seem to be "aggression" and "excitement".

They sum up both his larger-than-life personality and Hewitt's new-look all-action game.

"It's about taking a few more risks, adding a few more shots which he can use at different points of matches," Rasheed said.

"It should add a bit more excitement to his tennis and Lleyton, once he gets the adrenalin and is excited by what's going on, is a very hard man to beat."


Hewitt, speaking independently, said: "I am trying to be a bit more aggressive.

"I want to take the initiative more when I get the first hit in and I think that's been happening since the US Open and my match with Ferrero."

The 2002 Wimbledon champion took time off from the tour after Flushing Meadows, primarily to focus on the Davis Cup semi-final and final - which Australia won spectacularly against Spain.

But he also took stock of his individual game and made the necessary modifications.

He admits that, on the 11-month-a-year tennis tour, some time off is useful, if you can afford it.

So 2003 was all about the emergence of young, first-time Grand Slam winners - Ferrero, Federer and Roddick.

But anyone writing Hewitt off as a name from the past should reconsider.

"I still think he's a fair way from being the player he can be," said his excited coach.

"I don't think he's peaked by a long shot. He's a couple of years away from playing his best tennis."

Hewitt urges doping action

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt called on tennis authorities to sort out the game after a tribunal cleared Greg Rusedski of a doping offence.
Hewitt said he was pleased for Rusedski but added that the sport had a problem.

"I'd like to think tennis is pretty much clean most of the time but clearly there's a problem somewhere," he said.

"I know I'm 100% clean. Still, you come out of some matches with guys who look stronger in the fifth set than the first. You have to wonder about that."

Hewitt, who begins his defence this week of his Indian Wells ATP Masters Series title, said he was tested for drugs 15 to 16 times last year.

"There are others on the tour who get tested up to two dozen times a year," he said.
"They are pinpointing some guys more than others."

Tim Henman, also in Indian Wells, said he was pleased his Davis Cup team-mate would now be able to concentrate on his playing career.

"I'm so glad he's been able to prove his innocence," Henman said.

"I've said all along that he just wasn't the type of person that would take something.

"He knows you're not going to get away with something like that with the drug-testing programme already in place.

"The last six months must have been absolutely horrific for him. You wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy. To be able to put this behind him must be such a relief."
 

ATP on the rack

By Tom Fordyce

The not guilty verdict on Greg Rusedski may have been great news for the player, but it has left men's tennis in crisis.

The governing body of the men's game, the Association of Tennis Professionals, faces its nightmare scenario: the world's top players keep testing positive for banned drugs, and it does not have the faintest idea why.

When the steroid nandrolone was first found in the urine samples of seven players between 2002 and 2003, the ATP let them off on the basis that it was unable to prove that the nandrolone had not come from supplements given out by its own trainers.

Now it appears increasingly likely that the contaminated supplements theory may have been flawed.

Since the point in May last year when the ATP says it instructed its trainers to stop giving out the electrolyte tablets under suspicion, not only has Rusedski tested positive but another 16 other players have shown low-level trace readings of nandrolone or its precursors - in 2004 alone.

None of the 16 had a sufficiently high reading to trigger disciplinary action, but the question remains the same - if those tablets were no longer being given out, just what is causing all the positive tests?

Near-epidemic

The ATP's trainers were understood to be furious after being made scapegoats last year. The World Anti-Doping Agency also questioned the validity of that explanation.

Forty-three other players showed low-level readings of nandrolone before the start of this year. That makes it a near-epidemic of nandrolone in the men's game.

No-one seriously believes that all players involved were deliberately taking steroids. So where have all the tests come from?

The ATP pledged on Wednesday to "re-double efforts to identify the cause of these test results", and has recruited two new experts to help with the ongoing investigation.


It needs to find a plausible answer - and fast.

Tennis has to appear to be a clean sport to convince the general public to take it seriously.

Its testing programme is rigorous - Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was dope-tested more than 20 times last year - but all that counts for nothing with the public if all anyone hears is of unexplained scandals involving great swathes of players.

Just as embarrassing for the Mark Miles, the ATP chief executive, was the direct criticism implied by the tribunal which heard Rusedski's case.

"The tribunal concluded that he (Rusedski) should have received personal notification of the risk of taking an electrolyte supplement previously distributed by ATP trainers, and that the ATP notices posted in the player newsletters, player intranet website and locker rooms were not adequate," admitted Miles on Wednesday.

Pressing task

The ATP also needs to deal with the problem of what exactly it is safe for its players to take after matches.

Many of the world's top 100 are deeply concerned about being forced to play long games in hot conditions without recourse to multi-vitamins, salts and carbohydrate drinks.

It has set up a task force chaired by former top 10 player Jan Leschly and including Tim Henman and Andre Agassi to look into the problem, but the continuing positive tests make that an even more pressing task.

The ATP may also face the possibility of legal action from Rusedski, whose reputation has been dragged through the mud since news broke in January of his positive test.

It could argue that it was the player, and not they themselves, who released details of his test - but as Rusedski has been cleared on the basis that the ATP could not prove that it was not responsible for his positive reading in the first instance, they would be fighting from a weak position.

The events of the past two years have left the ATP open to ridicule. Rusedski may wish to put this whole mess behind him, but there are too many questions left unanswered for the ATP to do the same.


Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/tennis/3498426.stm

Published: 2004/03/10 15:13:13 GMT

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