Even in defeat Hewitt was looking good Feb 23
By Charlie Bricker
Even in defeat, it was a great
tournament for the pugnacious Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, who is trying
to get back into the top 10 (he'd settle for top 20, I'm sure) after
hip surgery, with the help of a new and vastly improved serve that
caused Andy Roddick no end of difficulty on Saturday afternoon in
Memphis.
Hewitt stroked 14 aces, half of them annoying sliders into the deuce
court, which gave Roddick, playing well behind the baseline, not
much of a crack at a return on these short-angled serves.
If Hewitt is to have a successful comeback from the kind of surgery
that has been a career killer for a number of pros, he's going to
need more free points like that, and shorter rallies, though there
was nothing wrong with his quickness in this 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4
semifinal loss. His reactions are still good enough to make him one
of the best service returners in the game and he's still swift
enough to handle most of Roddick's crashing forehands. And few
players are as good as Hewitt as re-directing a ball from a
defensive position. The issue for Hewitt is how that hip is going to
hold up after a few months on tour. We're only getting started here.
When he got Roddick chasing shots along the baseline, he showed even
more quickness in getting to the net to take advantage of some very
solid volleying. But as good as he looked, just three days before
his 28th birthday and only a few months out of the operating room,
he doesn't have Roddick's blasting powder, and ultimately that's
what won this match for Andy in the final set.
Hewitt now heads for Delray Beach, Fl., where he has a wild card and
probably a Tuesday night opener Lu Yen-Hsun.
This Memphis match was between a couple of players looking for
resurgence. Hewitt, of course, is trying to rebound from surgery.
Roddick, who has hired coach-to-the-stars Larry Stefanki, is trying
to find the right formula to take his game up a few notches into the
top three in the world. This match showed the Roddick is listening
to Stefanki's advice, but not yet with consistency.
It wasn't until midway through the second set that he began to get
much more aggressive with his returns off Hewitt's second serve. He
also had a miserable start, being broken twice in the first set and
winning a surprisingly low 57 percent of his first-serve points.
That improved to 76 and 94 percent in the final two sets. But there
was still the issue of dealing with Hewitt's pumped up serving.
Roddick had nine break-point opportunities and converted just one.
He must take a few more risks with his service returns. He's too
good a server not to take some chances in getting the breaks he
needs to run out sets.
Roddick will play the very hot Radek Stepanek in Sunday's final and,
hopefully, he will have cooled down a bit. He wasn't pleased with
the work of chair umpire Alan Neely.
Charlie Bricker can be reached at
bricker@tennisnews.com
Its boom or bust for Hewitt Jan 20
And while the Hewitt camp is confident that, given a reasonable run with injury, he can return to the top 10, his manager David Drysdale also revealed that Hewitt briefly contemplated retirement before undergoing surgery to repair a hip problem last August. He said Hewitt had faced a simple choice — surgery, "or give it away".
"We didn't know whether the surgery was going to fix it," Drysdale told The Age, in a free-ranging interview last week.
"You know, we hoped it would. Basically, he was left with surgery or give it away — and they were the two options he had, and he had to make a decision as to whether he wanted to give it away."
Asked whether Hewitt would keep playing in the event that he was unable to lift his ranking from its present range, Drysdale said: "I don't think so. That's me, getting his make-up … If he can't get out there and give it the best that he can possibly give — and know what he can give — I don't think he'd hang around.
"He's the sort of guy that might turn around and just say 'right, well, I'm finished'. There'll be no farewell tour, there'll be none of that sort of palaver that goes on. It'll be 'right, that's it', and (he'll) walk away."
Drysdale confirmed that before the operation Hewitt had considered the retirement question. "Of course. Yeah," he said.
Hewitt, whose operation was successful, was encouraged to keep playing because "he knows that if he can fix his body, he can get back (up) there".
"You didn't want him to walk away and think 'what if', but then again, it was his decision … and at the moment it looks like it was the right decision."
Drysdale was confident that Hewitt could return to the top 10 — one of his goals for 2009 — provided his body stood up.
"The idea is to keep his body healthy, and then if we can give him a full season this year, then the way he hits the ball and the way he competes, then there's no reason why he can't make top 10, top 15 by the end of the year."
Hewitt, whose drop in the rankings — caused primarily by his lay-off and lack of matches (31 in 2008) — has forced him into a difficult first-round assignment today against 2007 Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzales, has been in discussions with Tennis Australia about an off-court role encouraging people to play the sport.
"We've been talking to Tennis Australia quite regularly about it, and (Open tournament director and Tennis Australia official) Craig Tiley.
"We're trying to work with them on something … to get Lleyton to be the face of getting people to play the sport.
"It's all very in infancy at the moment; he wants to put something back, to get kids to play the game."
Tiley, who has a strong relationship with Hewitt, said: "We hope in the coming months we'll be able to have something final with Lleyton's involvement, to have his expertise contribute towards our future.
"Lleyton wants nothing more than for Australia to be a championship nation in the sport."
Hewitt has been frustrated by a lack of support in the playing ranks — he is the only Australian ranked in the top 100. "I think that's a legitimate frustration, but we hope to help him by developing the youth," Tiley said.
Drysdale said Hewitt would not be 100 per cent for "another couple of months" and that he should be in top condition by Wimbledon.
"Every time he steps on the court he wants to win, there's no doubt about that, but we've just got to be realistic that five months off is a long time," he said.
"I think it's fair to say we shouldn't have high expectations for the Australian Open. It's more about getting him through; every match he plays, if he gets past that match, that's one extra step he takes. And maybe we should be looking more at Wimbledon and the US Open.
"I think if he stays fit, Wimbledon is a place he'd really like to do well. There's fewer players there that know how to play on (grass). He feels great on that, physically, he should be right by about Wimbledon. I wouldn't throw him out of the mix for the French Open; he played well on the clay there last year."
But Hewitt's French Open preparations could be compromised by his strong commitment to the Davis Cup, with a zonal tie — against either India or Taiwan — clashing with some of the European claycourt season.
"He probably would have been looking to play a couple of tournaments leading into the French," Drysdale said.
"But now he'd have to come back and play Davis Cup in India maybe on grass, or hardcourt, or whatever it is that they play on, or back to Australia and play on hardcourt, then he's got to go back and get ready for the French.
"So if he put himself first, (he) wouldn't play. But because it's for Australia, he goes 'no way, I'm coming back to play'. I think sometimes he doesn't get enough credit for the fact that he puts the country first before himself."
Drysdale said Hewitt had made excellent progress in his return this summer and was planning a much busier playing schedule in 2009.
"He'll have a much, much more intensive year this year. He's playing a number of tournaments in the States. We always base everything around grand slams and Davis Cup — they come first — and then the perfect lead-ups to the grand slams and, to be honest, he'd be better off not playing Davis Cup this year."
Drysdale said how long Hewitt intended to play, "whether that's two years, three years, four years, I think the body's going to determine that more than Lleyton's desire".
Lleyton Hewitt dumped from Aussie Open Jan 19
Big-hitting Fernando Gonzalez has clubbed 67 winners to send Lleyton Hewitt crashing out of the Australian Open with an epic five-set victory at Melbourne Park.
Lleyton Hewitt will plummet outside the world's top 100 following his 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 loss to big-hitting Fernando Gonzalez, leaving the 28-times Davis Cup-winning nation in danger of being the laughing stock of the tennis world.
Should Guccione or Klein fail to pull off a series of upsets this week, Australia will be without a man in the top 100 for the first time ever.
Hewitt, though, is refusing to give up on his Open dreams despite tumbling to a decade-low ranking after watching helplessly as Gonzalez clubbed 67 winners to eliminate him in three hours and seven minutes at Rod Laver Laver Arena.
The gallant loss was Hewitt's first first-round exit at Melbourne Park since being struck down with chickenpox as the tournament's top seed back in 2002 and snapped the South Australian's streak of seven successive five-set triumphs at his home grand slam.
All things considered, though, it was another mighty effort from Hewitt, who only returned to the courts last month after a five-month layoff following career-saving hip surgery.
The drama-charged fifth set could have gone either way as the two players traded service breaks in the fourth and fifth games.
Leading 3-2, but having just dropped serve, a tiring Gonzalez took a medical timeout to have both legs massaged.
The break didn't help Hewitt, who immediately double-faulted on the resumption of play, then dumped a forehand into the net before the South American nailed a scorching crosscourt forehand pass to grab another break and a match-winning 4-2 lead.
Hewitt lamented squandering three break-point opportunities at 1-1 in the decider.
"I felt at that stage I was starting to get back on top," Hewitt said.
"Early in that fifth set, it would have been nice to go up an early break ... it could have been a little bit different."
Ultimately, Hewitt's wretched draw put paid to the unseeded former grand slam champion's hopes of venturing deep into the draw.
But the 27-year-old has already planned a hectic schedule comprising of tournaments in San Jose, starting in two weeks, then Memphis, Houston, Indian Wells and Miami as he sets about regaining his place in the world's top 20.
"I'm right there," Hewitt said.
"The guys that I've lost to, especially the last two weeks, they're both top 15 at the moment.
"But when they're at their best, (David) Nalbandian is possibly a top-five, top-seven player and Gonzalez is a top-10 player.
"The two losses haven't been the worst losses on paper. I probably could have easily won both those matches."
Hewitt, eyeing another tilt at Open glory in 2009, rejected reports that he considered retiring after the Beijing Olympics, when his nagging hip injury ended his season.
"As soon as I flew back from Beijing, I landed that morning, then that afternoon I was under the knife. If I was going to retire, then I wouldn't have had the surgery done," he said.
"It wasn't something that was going to affect me in everyday life for the rest of my life.
"It was something that, if I want to still play tennis, then it had to be done."
Lleyton Hewitt starts run in the sun Jan 19
LLEYTON Hewitt has his three wishes - blistering heat, a berth on Rod Laver Arena and underdog status.
Australia's leading Melbourne Park hope yesterday successfully requested his first-round match against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez be contested during the day.
Hewitt's wishes, and those of tournament officials, meant broadcaster Channel 7 was deprived of a potential ratings bonanza tonight.
But the decision has given the former world No. 1 the chance to impose his fitness and toughness on 2007 Open finalist Gonzalez.
It is understood the Hewitt camp was eager to have the match played in the heat of the day because they believe few players are better equipped than him to cope with the conditions.
Hewitt, ranked 74th after hip surgery, practised in the early afternoon swelter yesterday as world No. 1 Rafael Nadal worked out on an adjacent court.
French, Wimbledon and Olympic champion Nadal is the star act of the night session, beginning his quest for a sixth major against Italian Andreas Seppi.
Hewitt is $2 to Gonzalez's $1.75 in head-to-head betting on TAB Sportsbet. Betfair has it even tighter - Hewitt yesterday at $2 and Gonzalez at $1.98.
Gonzalez boasts a 3-2 record against Hewitt, with two of those victories coming on clay.
The other, and most significant, success was his 6-2 6-2 5-7 6-4 Australian Open third-round triumph over Hewitt two years ago - under lights.
Hewitt has worked hard to rebuild his strength after hobbling throughout last season.
The Wimbledon and US Open champion underwent surgery on his left hip only a few days after losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal at the Beijing Olympics on August 12.
Working with renowned personal trainer Nathan Martin, Hewitt was ordered not to run for 12-15 weeks to protect the hip. He swam daily and spending time in the gym building upper body strength.
He resumed running in November and began hitting balls again with coach Tony Roche in December.
By January, he was ready to resume playing at the Hopman Cup, posting wins over Nicolas Kiefer and Dominik Hrbaty before losing to James Blake.
His recovery continued in Sydney with wins over Julien Benneteau and Janko Tipsarevic and a loss against David Nalbandian.
Former No.1 Hewitt's self-belief still burning brightly
Jan 10
Hewitt, a dual major winner, has slipped to 70th in the world after spending almost five months out of the game with a career-threatening hip injury.
His return to the court at Perth's Hopman Cup started well enough when he fought out two tough three-set wins over Nicolas Kiefer and Dominik Hrbaty. But the task confronting Hewitt in his bid to regain his former glory was glaringly obvious in a listless 6-2, 6-2 loss to world No.10 James Blake.
Many would argue that the likes of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have opened a gap too great for Hewitt to breach.
In what has become an annual plea, Australian greats John Newcombe and Pat Rafter have again urged Hewitt to become more aggressive, believing the 27-year-old's trademark fighting spirit is no longer enough to carry him over the line against the world's best.
The stubborn Hewitt continues to disagree. The brash South Australian was a risk-taker in his younger days but has grown more cautious as the years roll on. Gone are the backhand winners down the line, replaced with safer strokes from behind the baseline.
"We all know when he goes out there and starts hitting short balls and relies on defence he can't cut it out there," Newcombe said last week. "He has got to take it to his opponents, go for his shots and play a variety of shots, and that's what he's doing with 'Rochey' [coach Tony Roche]. If he can apply that in his matches, in 12 months' time he'll be back in the top 10."
But Hewitt, desperate to add to his 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon successes, remains adamant he has what it takes to match it with Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray without changing his game. "I think on any given day - with matches under my belt and hopefully getting a good rhythm and routine again - yeah, I think that on any given surface I can give them a run," Hewitt says. "So right at the moment I'm not too worried about the ranking, purely because I feel like I'm a hell of a lot better player than where my ranking's at."
No doubt he is right; check his grand slam results and Hewitt rarely loses to mugs and invariably reaches the fourth round or so. He remains a genuine top-20 performer. The trouble is, he also rarely beats the big guns these days.
While some players get better with age, Hewitt's high-octane game has already taken such a heavy toll on his body, it means he will probably head in the opposite direction.
Andre Agassi was 33 and four months when he last held the mantle of world No.1 but Hewitt knows he doesn't have the game or the body to emulate the great American's feat.
"The way that he did come back was amazing," Hewitt says. "He's one of a kind though. There's not too many people that could keep going at 35, 36 and still be competitive.
"And Federer was probably at the peak of his game then and Andre was still pushing him in a couple of those grand slams over five sets. I've been fortunate enough to have a few chats with Andre in the last couple of years since he's retired, and I've hit with him a couple of times. He's got a great outlook on the game and in life in general."
After undergoing months of frustrating rehab following hip surgery, Hewitt says it will take time for him to regain peak touch and fitness.
"I feel really good … but obviously for me the first six months of this year is a building process," he says. "When you've been out for five months or so you can't expect to come out straight away and be playing your best tennis. Everyone talks about match fitness, match hardness. When I was world No.1 and playing week in and week out, you're on auto-pilot out there the whole time.
"You don't have to think about a lot. You come up to the big points and you trust your instincts, and that's what I have to get back into the routine of doing. For me, it's still all about the grand slams.
"When you've won grand slams and been No.1, the smaller tournaments take a back seat a little bit. So, for me, I work my schedule out around the grand slams and Davis Cup. I work backwards from those and I want to be peaking at those events."
Going into his 13th Australian Open, Hewitt warned opponents to write him off at their peril.
AAP
Jan 3 Lleyton's light dims
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January 03, 2009 12:00am
