Hewitt to double up
By Leo Schlink
May 12, 2006

LLEYTON Hewitt will end a six-year hiatus from grand slam doubles by teaming up with Wayne Arthurs at the French Open in two weeks.

Match-shy Hewitt has not played doubles at the majors since lifting the 2000 US Open trophy with Belarussian Max Mirnyi.

The former world champion occasionally contests ATP and Davis Cup doubles, but usually prefers to conserve his energy for singles.

But, inactive competitively since last month's Davis Cup victory over Belarus, Hewitt will use the French Open doubles as a pipe-opener for British grass.

The South Australian had intended teaming up with Arthurs at the Hamburg Masters from Monday.

But Arthurs was unable to commit to the entire tournament because of a French Open wildcard play-off at Roland Garros on Saturday week.

Hewitt's coach Roger Rasheed yesterday confirmed Hewitt would re-enter a major doubles draw for the first time in six seasons.

The decision was made to help enhance Hewitt's under-rated volleying skills ahead of Queen's Club and then Wimbledon.

Rasheed described Hewitt's claycourt practice form at a private Sydney venue as "of extremely high quality".

"He's done all the work required for the eight weeks ahead of him with a view to peaking at Wimbledon (June 26 to July 9)."

Hewitt has not played doubles of any description - apart from in Davis Cup practice - since a losing Cup effort against Argentina in Sydney in July.

The former Wimbledon and US Open champion has won two doubles titles in his career.

Hewitt's decision to increase his workload - he will probably follow his usual habit of playing doubles at Queen's - comes as Mark Philippoussis struggles to recover for Wimbledon.

The former world No.8 will be forced to qualify for Wimbledon unless the All-England Club provides the 2003 finalist with a wildcard.

Philippoussis will however miss the European clay-court season.

He might contest a US clay court challenger before switching to British grass if his sore left knee permits.

If Philippoussis is unable to rapidly rankings build points - he sits at No.165 in the world - he will have no choice but to qualify at Wimbledon.

The Victorian's strong record at the home of tennis - he has a 26-9 record and has reached at least the quarters four times - means he will be considered for a wildcard.

Philippoussis will require a similar concession at the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's unless he decides he needs the grass-court match practice in qualifying.

His hopes of a wildcard into the main draw in the premier Wimbledon lead-up have been complicated by the presence of six of the world's top 10 at the event.

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Hewitt skips Rome to practise in Sydney

By LEO SCHLINK

May 04, 2006

LLEYTON Hewitt has pulled out of next week's Rome Masters, citing scheduling issues.

The world No. 14 will remain in Sydney to practise at a private venue with his coach Roger Rasheed before tackling the Hamburg Masters from May 15.

Off the ATP tour since Miami in March, when he was upset by Tim Henman, Hewitt has not played since thumping Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov in Davis Cup at Kooyong on April 7.

Hewitt's manager Rob Aivatoglou yesterday said Hewitt's decision to bypass Masters events in Monte Carlo and now Rome was based on scheduling concerns.

"Lleyton's managing his preparation going into the French Open and then Wimbledon," Aivatoglou said.


"He'll be doing a seven-week stretch, starting with Hamburg, then Poertschach (Austria) before the French Open on May 29. From there, he plays the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club leading into Wimbledon."

Hewitt missed the entire claycourt season last year because of rib and foot injuries.

Any points he pockets on the red dust will push the former world champion back towards the top 10.

Hewitt joins Andre Agassi, French Open finalist Martin Verkerk, gifted Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Russian Igor Andreev as Rome absentees.

They have been replaced by Henman, Andreas Seppi, Davide Sanguinetti, Taylor Dent and Max Mirnyi.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal returns to the Foro Italico bidding to equal Argentine Guillermo Vilas' 1977 claycourt winning streak of 53 matches.

The Spanish teenager has collected 47 successive wins on clay and, if he defends the Rome title, he will have matched Vilas' feat.

An opening round victory at the French Open will give the 19-year-old a place in history.
 

Hewitt won't change style
By Darren Walton
April 8, 2006

LLEYTON Hewitt has admitted he's struggling but said he had no plans to buckle to increasing pressure from critics calling for Australia's former world No.1 to change his playing style.

Hewitt hasn't beaten anyone in the top 20 since the US Open last September, has slipped outside the world's top 10 and is in the midst of a 15-month title drought.

Former world No.1s Pat Rafter, John Newcombe, Jim Courier and Mats Wilander were among a growing list of experts to have urged Hewitt to attack more and get to the net to try to finish off points quicker.

Rafter considers his former Davis Cup teammate one of the best volleyers on tour, while Wilander, like Hewitt a classic counter-puncher, has expressed fears that the 25-year-old risks mental burnout if he doesn't become more aggressive.

Hewitt, though, has no intentions of undergoing any type of mid-career makeover and says it's more a matter of continuing to work hard and being patient.

"There's always little areas you try to work on and that. For me to play my best tennis, (I) feel like I've got to get into that groove and be on auto-pilot when I'm playing out there," he said during Australia's Davis Cup quarter-final against Belarus.

"You've got to go out there and you don't have to think a lot, and it just sort of happens.

"That's what Roger Federer has experienced in the last three years. It makes it a lot easier out there.

"At the moment, I feel like I've got to work to get back into that position. It's been a little struggle at the start of this year, but it's a matter of trying to build on that."

"Apart from the Aussie Open, my past seven majors I've lost to the winner," Hewitt said.

"I've played some good matches in the last month or so. It was good to get some tough matches against good opponents under my belt.

"I lost a couple of tough three-setters in the two finals and they would have been nice to go the other way, but it wasn't to be."

After hammering Vladimir Voltchkov 6-2 6-1 6-2 yesterday to help Australia advance to the semi-finals of the 2006 Davis Cup, Hewitt will head to Europe for the claycourt season with high hopes.

The world No.12 missed the entire claycourt season last year following foot surgery and two broken ribs.

"Going onto the clay now is going to be nice. I'm not defending any points from last year so that's a huge opportunity, and obviously Wimbledon is the main focus." he said.

One rival not writing Hewitt off is Belarussian Max Mirnyi, who still considers his 2000 US Open-winning doubles partner a top-five player.

"He's had such consistent results over the last six, seven years that people expect so much of him," Mirnyi said.

"Now that maybe he's had a little bit of lesser results doesn't mean that he's a less of a player.

"It's just the game is so competitive and him losing in the (second) round of the Australian Open this year and maybe not winning a title this year doesn't mean he's playing worse.

"He'll have his moment and he's shown so many times, over and over, that he's so competitive and so tough to beat.

"Everybody needs to make adjustments, not just Lleyton. The game is challenging every player that's playing at the top level.

"Agassi's a great example of that. In the '80s, he was competing with one group of guys and throughout his career he had to adjust to different people and different types of tennis.

"Lleyton perhaps is going through that now and I'm sure he's good enough to acclimatise and still compete well."

AAP

Why the deuce do we smother our celebrities by Rex Jory March 9
SURELY I'm not the only one who's full to the tonsils of Lleyton and Bec. If Lleyton Hewitt and his wife, Bec Cartwright, are the equivalent of Australia's celebrity royal family, then it's a pretty average imperial court.

L and B have become the Australian equivalents of the English magazine freak show, soccer star David Beckham and his wife, Posh Spice. Like Bec, Posh is famous because she is Posh.

The identities of both women have been submerged beneath the exploits of their men, yet they retain the curious capacity to command public attention.

It is impossible to browse through the magazine section of most newsagencies without finding pictures of the glamorous Bec following Lleyton as he fulfils his international tennis obligations. The stories have them so much in love and battling the tensions of the tour.

In one edition, they are relaxed; in another, they are exhausted.

One article reveals the agony of Bec's baby crisis. Apparently the little darling did a messy number two while they were out shopping and didn't have a change of clothes. That's not a crisis. It's motherhood. Yet, apparently, if it happens to Bec it's news.

Clearly, the Hewitts sell. To be fair on Lleyton and Bec, it's not their fault. While wannabe pop stars and actors feed material, often through their agents, to the grateful paparazzi, Lleyton and Bec don't need the publicity. They don't crave the probing eye of the camera or the fictitious nonsense that is written about them. Lleyton hates it.

What bothers me is: who reads it? Apart from Lleyton's marvellous tennis record, I couldn't give a crumpet about either of them. But Lleyton is an Adelaide boy. His family, and his roots, remain here. And he continues to do wonderfully well on the international circuit.

Sadly, we expect too much of him. When he is runner-up in two consecutive tournaments, we regard it as failure. If Britain had a player that good, the fickle British press would laud him as a superstar. Which is precisely what Lleyton is.

But he is not a social phenomenon. Nor is he a public exhibit in a glass case. I admire his exploits on the tennis court and despise his exposure in the court of false society.

I'm bored with them both, yet clearly plenty of people can't get enough fabricated nonsense about their apparently fairytale marriage. If Lleyton is one of the top 10 tennis players in the world, what does Bec do? She was a good-looking star of Home and Away. Now she is apparently Lleyton's wife and Australia's most scrutinised mother.

People who follow the real or imagined global dramas of Lleyton and Bec must have precious little else to do. How can someone command prominence in the glossy magazines for wiping a child's bottom? Is her preference for breastfeeding ahead of the bottle really interesting? Or is it facile voyeurism?

The reality is that most of us live mundane lives, either working to scrounge a few hard-earned dollars or fulfilling the vital domestic duties associated with raising a family and running a home.

To live the soft-pillow, five-star life of Lleyton and Bec – or David and Posh – is nothing more than a remote and distant dream. The majority of magazine readers have probably never stayed in a five-star hotel. It is as futile as reading a brochure about an Italian holiday when the bank has sent a reminder about the overdue mortgage payments.

It is fantasy. Lleyton and Bec fill a void in the lives of a huge slice of the Australian population.

But frankly, I'm sick of them.

Hewitt determined to recapture top form

By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL


Lleyton Hewitt, left, and Tennis Channel founder Steve Bellamy, right, attend a news conference with Mayor Oscar Goodman on Thursday. The Tennis Channel Open begins Monday in Las Vegas.
Photo by John Locher.

Not long ago -- June 15, 2003, to be exact -- Lleyton Hewitt was the top-ranked tennis player in the world. But the injuries that have slowed the Australian the past couple of years make that seem like a lifetime ago.

Despite a seemingly insurmountable obstacle named Roger Federer and the fact Hewitt hasn't won a tournament in 13 months, he remains resolute in his desire to regain the No. 1 ranking.

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The 24-year-old Hewitt, ranked 10th, is convinced he still has the game to be the best.

"There's a lot of top players," said Hewitt, who will compete in the Tennis Channel Open beginning Monday at the Darling Memorial Tennis Center. "Federer's at the top. But there's a lot of guys who are capable of winning if Roger slips a little."

Injuries limited Hewitt to eight events in 2005. But he gave Federer all he could handle in the U.S. Open semifinals before losing in four sets.

"I've had a few niggling injuries and I'm still not 100 percent," Hewitt said. "I hurt my ankle at the Australian Open and the last three weeks have been tough.

"The big thing is getting matches under my belt. I feel like I need to work on my game and I'm trying to get that competitive hardness again."

Hewitt looked sharp in last week's SAP Open in San Jose, Calif. He reached the final and dominated the first set against Andy Murray. But the 18-year-old Scot roared back for a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) victory.

"I was happy to play in San Jose," Hewitt said. "I didn't serve well in the final. I didn't get enough cheap points. But I felt pretty good on the rallies, and it was definitely a step in the right direction."

Hewitt considered returning to Australia but instead made the trip to Las Vegas. He'll be the No. 2 seed behind Andy Roddick when the draw is announced today.

"I was looking at the schedule and trying to figure out whether to go home or stay here and grind it out and get some matches," Hewitt said. "But it's a very good field here in Vegas. There's a lot of players you don't want to see in the first round."

Hewitt's first visit to Las Vegas is off to a good start. Mayor Oscar Goodman proclaimed Thursday "Lleyton Hewitt Day" and presented him with a Goodman tennis player bobblehead doll.

Hewitt made the trip with his wife, actress Bec Cartwright, and their 3-month-old daughter, Mia. Hewitt said being a family man has been a wonderful and rewarding experience so far.

"It hasn't changed me in terms of preparation or playing tennis," he said. "But it's a totally different situation when you're through playing. To come home and see your child, it's amazing.

"I feel very relaxed and I'm definitely happy with my life, on the court and off the court, as well."

Hewitt said he hopes to enjoy some of Las Vegas' attractions before the tournament begins Monday.

"I'd like to see a show or two if I can while I'm here," he said. "I'll let my wife handle the shopping."