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Little Lleyton's being court short by his own obsession (another swipe at Lleyton by Patrick Smith)
Patrick Smith
January 21, 2006

THE Little Lleyton Open lasted four days and two matches. It began desperately on Tuesday afternoon and ended late and limply on Thursday night. The tournament can now once more safely be referred to as the Australian Open.

Little Lleyton was on court for seven hours and nine minutes, made up of five sets against Czech Robin Vik and four against Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela. Of the nine sets, the Australian conquered four. He won 301 points to his opponents' 325; hit 119 winners to their 115 but made 123 unforced errors to 100. He might even have trailed with his "come on" calls.

There was not one against Chela, though Vik's ears were ringing.

It was in this match that Hewitt also shouted to someone in the crowd to shut up. He later denied he had a problem with any spectator or coach and nor could he remember the incident. It is not the first time Little Lleyton's memory has tricked him.

So it was the briefest Little Lleyton Open since 1999, other than 2002 when the Australian No.1 was stricken with chicken pox.

His demise this week has been attributed to three things. His preparation was curtailed by poor performances in Adelaide and Sydney. He was restricted by a virus that was reported to have all but claimed his life in the first round at Olympic Park.

In Thursday's match against Chela, when he was down two sets to love, he appeared to hurt his left foot. He required treatment three times. The foot was strapped but he said it remained tender when he planted it forcefully in the preparation of a shot.

And finally, of course, there was the Rebound Ace surface. As he descended into the deep hole against Chela that not even his famous tenacity would be able to extricate him, Little Lleyton shouted towards the Hewitt Huddle in the players' box: "Fix this surface".

Given that neither his wife Bec Cartwright, his coach Roger Rasheed nor parents Glynn or Cherilyn had a bobcat handy this appeared a slim hope. Well, at 9 o'clock at night it did, for at other times the Australian tennis community has moved heaven as well as earth for Little Lleyton.

It is the sluggishness of the court surface and the high bounce that drives Little Lleyton to distraction. He expanded on his point in the post-match news conference. He thought the surface this year might even be slower than the clay of the French Open.

He said the lack of speed helped his opponent and the switch to Wilson balls, used in the US Open, may well have slowed play further rather than quicken it as organisers had hoped.

"I don't think there's been a lot of homework done how the balls play on this surface for some reason. It's bouncing a lot higher and playing slower even this year from last year," he said.

More pointedly: "I don't know when some of these people (Open organisers) are going to wake up to themselves."

What he really meant, of course, was when were they going to wake up to Little Lleyton and give him courts that allow him the best possible chance to win the tournament he cherishes most.

Hewitt's argument, and that of his followers in the media, is that he has given much to Australian tennis - only now does his selfless commitment to the Davis Cup tradition seem to be wavering publicly - that he deserves to choose any surface he wants.

There are inherent problems with that argument. Firstly, Rebound Ace appears to discriminate against Hewitt only. Roger Federer, who has won three Wimbledons on the grass, won the Australian title two years ago and is the hottest of favourites this time.

If the surface speed is to change as each revolution of Australian leading players takes it turn, then this grand slam tournament would lose both its integrity, character and point of difference from the other three grand slam events.

It might infuriate Little Lleyton but the Open is more significant than his personal ambition.

Given that last year's centenary Open - of which Hewitt made the final - was heralded as one of the great slams, there is no call for the surface to change other than Little Lleyton's whingeing.

And if a local player emerged who was better than Hewitt but preferred a slow surface what would Little Lleyton's camp suggest then? If this Open is all about the health of Australian tennis, as suggested, then Hewitt would surely have to support the implementation of thick, turgid courts.

Hewitt's demands are unreasonable, intolerable and obsessive. It was an insight into how scarred he has become by the refusal of the Open to bow to his demands that at a critical part of his match against Chela he sought to blame the court and not his own performance.

It is a fixation shared by his personal newsletter, Melbourne's Herald-Sun, which has effectively run Hewitt's campaign for him. It has sought and failed to build a case against the surface. Simply, Hewitt and his sucker fish are one out.

The 24-year-old has been a wonderful player. His form last year - reaching the semi-finals at least in three Grand Slams - is a quality performance. But this summer he appears to have been overhauled by the opposition.

Like Tiger Woods, he needs to constantly seek to find new levels for his game and rethink his strategies. He may have taken the role of the angry ball retriever with a deadly return of serve to its very limits.

Little Lleyton has long lost his coating of invincibility. Unless, of course, he has merely sold it to New Idea.

Chela ends Hewitt's summer

By Linda Pearce
January 20, 2006 - 1:04AM
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THE court surface on Rod Laver Arena may be too slow for Lleyton Hewitt's liking, but only once in the past seven years has his departure from the Australian Open been so swift. Hewitt last night lost in the second round to Juan Ignacio Chela, his earliest exit from Melbourne Park since the chickenpox year of 2002.

As a finalist 12 months ago, Hewitt also faces a sharp rankings drop from his current No. 6 to outside the top 10, but the pain of his defeat against his Argentinian rival will be far more acute. The third seed fell 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-2 in three hours 23 minutes, leaving only Peter Luczak, Nathan Healey and Samantha Stosur as Australia's presence in the third round.

Hewitt has had a sorry summer, losing early in Adelaide and from a seemingly impregnable position against Andreas Seppi in Sydney, his energy sapped by a stomach virus.

He struggled past Czech Robin Vik in a five-set opening round, but has been playing unconvincing, anxious tennis, and now will play no more.

While Chela battled cramp late in the match, Hewitt also was troubled by a left foot injury, calling a medical time-out five games into the third set. Hewitt, who had his ankle re-taped two games later, said he was in pain each time he landed. He received medication from tournament doctor Tim Wood late in the third set, complaining that he was unable to push off when forced wide — as if Chela alone was not causing him enough discomfort.

Hewitt's frustration with what he considers the surface's lack of pace became vocal late in the second set, when he was broken in the ninth game and yelled out something that sounded like "fix the courts". His game, at that stage, was also in need of repair.

The pair's opening trade of service breaks was indicative of what was to come, with both players vulnerable early, and seven breaks in the first 15 games. Hewitt was under particular pressure, facing 14 break points in his first eight service games, as Chela jumped all over his second ball, often belting clean winners.

Hewitt looked most threatening early in the third set, recovering from a 40-0 deficit in the first game to hold serve, then break Chela in the next game. It was as if he was suddenly galvanised, recognising the urgency of a situation that was threatening to slip from his grasp.

Except that Chela — ranked 51st, down from his best of 15th — pulled level three games later to force a tie-breaker that Hewitt finally closed out on his eighth set point, the set lasting 71 draining minutes.

The Australian made some uncharacteristic errors at important moments, and lapsed at the start of the fourth set, as Chela raced to a 3-0 lead.

Overall, Chela clubbed 23 winners with his two-handed backhand and served well at the vital moments. Hewitt hit more winners — 63, including an exceptional 25 on the forehand side — but his lack of match practice was evident in his 62 unforced errors.

An example came on his final break point, in the fifth game of the fourth set, when a wonderful running forehand down the line was followed by a limp backhand into the net. Even with Chela's muscles seizing up, it was Hewitt's last opportunity.

It had been one round later in last year's Open that the infamous spitting incident occurred, Chela having taking exception to Hewitt celebrating his mistakes in a tense fourth set. There was no ugliness last night, not even a "C'mon", just a tight, intense and often dramatic contest on a steamy summer night.

"At the moment it's a bit disappointing. It will probably hurt for a few days, I'd say," said Hewitt, who remains undecided about playing in next month's Davis Cup tie against Switzerland.

"I was giving everything I had out there. I just wasn't up to it tonight, but I felt like my ball-striking got better and better as the match went on."

Hewitt, who said he had been in pain since leading 3-1 in the third set, renewed his attack on the court speed, which he said "could be slower than the French Open", and was definitely bouncing higher and playing slower than last year. "It definitely helped him out there, there's no doubt about that, (but) he still played extremely well and he didn't give me a lot of opportunities."

Chela, who claimed before the match he had no personal beef with Hewitt or his coach, Roger Rasheed, described the win as the biggest of his career.

"They talked a lot about what happened last year, but when I got onto the court, I was just thinking about the tennis match," he said.

"Last year, Hewitt played extremely well, but this year he's not at the same level as he was last year. I don't think he's lost anything; maybe he's lost a bit of his confidence, but I'll sure he'll return to the same level as he was."

THE day began a little quirkily. An Australian player was showing significant resistance. Peter Luczak had taken the first set off Czech Ivo Minar on show court two. Otherwise things ticked over normally.

Nicole Pratt won just two games off Mary Pierce. The match was over in 52 minutes. Pratt managed just five winners. The veteran is closing in on 33 and her best - not insignificant, she was ranked 35 in 2002 - is well past her. It was her 16th appearance at this tournament. She is an old trooper but that is the telling part. The modern weaponry of the women's game is vastly superior to Pratt's gatling gun.

Still, the rest of the Australian women, Sam Stosur apart, have come to this tournament armed with nothing more sophisticated than bows and arrows. The appearance and performance of Casey Dellacqua against Lindsay Davenport the previous day was the starkest pointer yet to the shambolic state of Australian tennis.

Dellacqua, slow and overweight, is Australia's fourth ranked woman. She is 20 years old with an ambition to make the world's top 10. Someone tell her she's dreaming.

The No.1 seed Roger Federer had about as much regard for Denis Istomin as Pierce did for Pratt. Federer dismissed his Uzbek opponent in not much more than an hour, just a little less than it takes Shane Warne to finish an lbw appeal.

By the time Federer was ready for his news conference, Luczak had won a further two sets without conceding one to Minar and so became Australia's first victor at this open. Immediately, as is the way of Australian commentary, he was announced a legend of the game. Nathan Healey would soon join him and the likes of Rod Laver and Roy Emerson shuffled to the side to make room.

Better still Little Lleyton was to begin his Open campaign in the afternoon against a player ranked in the 50s.

There is no false modesty with Federer. Nor is there arrogance. He simply states the obvious. "I thought he played pretty good under the circumstances against me. Obviously I have a big repertoire of shots so I always get a way to find my way into somebody's game, especially ranked that low."

Essentially it was a more than suitable workout for the 2004 champion. He won in quick time but was out there long enough to gauge the speed of the court. Federer figures it about the same speed as last year. And that's despite the bleatings of Little Lleyton.

Hewitt was the next men's match on Rod Laver Arena after Federer, and his opponent Czech Robin Vik.

However, it is most important to first report that the Australian did not lose a toe, rip an ankle or tear a knee joint. No part of his body was torn asunder. Shins did not split nor were muscles mashed. Elbows didn't explode, hips remained whole. This is significant because Little Lleyton thinks the Melbourne Park courts unsafe. He made this point before the tournament began. The Herald-Sun newspaper, Little Lleyton's news letter to his fans, followed up with anxious words from chiropractor Andreas Bisaz.

The good chiro said the surface should be changed because it was dangerous and could be a catalyst for injury. For a considerable time Bisaz was part of the Hewitt Huddle. There is, of course, a secondary theory held by the lunatic fringe that suggests Little Lleyton would like a faster court because it suits his game.

But throughout yesterday Hewitt was hurting everywhere else. In confidence and on the scoreboard. He won the first set in a brisk and competent manner that suggested his preparation, while hampered by a virus, was not so significantly curtailed he could not figure in the finals next week.

The second, third and just about all of the fourth set told a different story. Vik had proved an enterprising and nerveless opponent. He pounded Hewitt's second serve, he mixed up the rhythm of the match with drop shots and volleys and, when he served for the match at 6-5 in the fourth set, a day that had begun quirkily was on the point of chaos. Hewitt did not look panicked; he certainly appeared startled.

If Hewitt was to have lost in the first round yesterday you could bet safely the courts would be so quick next year that Asafa Powell couldn't catch them. Paul McNamee is tournament organiser but he is also an entrepreneur. He knows what sells.

As Vik pushed Hewitt closer and closer to the brink he was unwittingly taking the Australian to his comfort zone. Where defeat is but a tentative forehand or double fault away, where Hewitt calmly computes angles and percentages, where his opponents merely capitulate because the prize has become too big and too close and their resolve fragile.

Yet two things happened in the fifth set. Mostly Hewitt's will was matched by Vik and so was his game. Losses to Philipp Kohlschreiber in Adelaide and Andreas Seppi in Sydney no longer looked aberrations but portents. Where once Hewitt stood alone, contenders now appear ready to clutter around him.

Players swapped breaks in the final set. Both men had legs rubbed. Vik had a prolonged debate with the umpire about an over-rule, Hewitt yelled at someone in the crowd to shut up. The unrufflable ruffled.

Vik served to stay in the game at 5-3 in the fifth set. He produced two double faults to begin with and his resistance, as mighty as it had been, had finally, begrudgingly evaporated. Hewitt, who had urged himself on constantly throughout the game, was measured in his 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 6-3 victory. He turned to his supporters box and then earnestly congratulated Vik on his performance.

This victory was no quirk. It was Little Lleyton's trademark that all of us admire. The worry for the Australian, though, is that the market is beginning to be flooded by similar products.

Hewitt, a beaten finalist in last year's Open to Russian Marat Safin, rallied from a break down in the fourth set to overcome Czech Robin Vik in five gruelling sets, 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 over 3hr 45 min.

The 58th-ranked Vik was poised to bring off a major upset but could not withstand Hewitt's concerted finish before his home crowd.

Hewitt's reward will be a rematch with Argentine rival Juan Ignacio Chela, who spat in the Australian's direction when they played here in a niggling match in last year's Open.

Hewitt had looked doomed to his earliest exit at his national championship since losing in the first round to Spaniard Alberto Martin in 2002.

But his famed fighting qualities came to the fore against the gutsy Vik, who fought to the bitter end, taking Hewitt to three break points in the fourth game of the final set before Hewitt held.

His come-from-behind victory kept alive his dream of becoming the first home player to win the Australian Open since Mark Edmondson won in 1976.

Vik was upset by an overrule by the chair umpire at a critical time and after a lengthy exchange with the official he lost the next point for Hewitt to crucially hold serve for 3-1 in the final set.

The Czech refused to give in and broke back in the sixth game when Hewitt played some lax shots, but Hewitt broke again in the next game.

Hewitt held serve and held three match points on Vik's serve in the ninth game before punching home a forehand volley on his second match point to clinch victory.

Hewitt has struggled for form in the lead-in tournaments to the Open and he was troubled by a stomach virus in last week's Sydney International where he was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi.

He was unable to impose himself on Vik, who was making his Australian Open debut.

Vik broke Hewitt in the third and seventh games to level the match in the second set and fought back from a service break to take the third.

The Czech, who made two Grand Slam appearances last year as a qualifier, rocked Hewitt by again breaking his serve in the opening game of the fourth to have the Australian fighting for his life.

Hewitt fended off a break point in his third service game to hold serve but Vik relentlessly kept coming to hold to 4-2 and be two games from victory.

But Hewitt raised himself to win a crucial break and then held his service game.

Vik clung on grimly to hold serve and it was the Australian who cracked with two double-faults to lose his next serve.

But Hewitt again dug deep, getting to 0-40 and then rifling a forehand winner deep in the back court to break back and force a tiebreaker.

Hewitt was down 1-3 in the tiebreaker but Vik tightened up and made four volleying errors and a double-fault for the third seed to take the match into the fifth set.

In earlier play World number one Roger Federer and a resurgent Mary Pierce have sent chilling warnings to their rivals as they swept into the Australian Open second round in ruthless fashion.

Federer, who equalled US great Pete Sampras' mark of 102 weeks as world number one in the ATP rankings released Monday, was in devastating form against Uzbekistan wildcard Denis Istomin, swatting him 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in under 90 minutes.

The Swiss star is the overwhelming favourite to land his second Australian Open and has chided his main title challengers to "bring it on."

Federer, who confessed to knowing nothing about his opponent, broke Istomin's serve six times and was always in command.

"It's never easy in the first round of a Grand Slam," he said after the match. "But the scores are good and I'm very happy with the result. It's a good start to the tournament."

He could potentially face Australia's big hope Lleyton Hewitt, who plays later Tuesday, in the semi-finals.

Pierce, the fifth seed, might not be the favourite to win her second women's title, but after a remarkable comeback year in 2005 no-one is dismissing her chances.

She was as commanding as Federer in brushing aside Australian wildcard Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-1 in less than an hour to silence the home crowd and set up a second round clash with Rika Fujiwara of Japan or the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova.

The victory ensured there was no repeat of the embarrassing Australian Open first round exits the 1995 champion endured last year and in 2002 as she fought to rebuild her career.

The revival has proved successful, with the 31-year-old coming into the year's opening Grand Slam buoyed by appearances last year in the finals of the French and US Opens, as well as the season-ending WTA Championship.

Others safely into the second round include Patty Schnyder, the Swiss seventh seed who reached the quarter-finals here last year. She overcame Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 6-3.

Number 12 seed Anastasia Myskina is also comfortably through with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 victory over Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine, making her the seventh Russian women to pass the first hurdle.

Others in action Tuesday include women's third seed Amelie Mauresmo of France, who takes on tricky Chinese challenger Sin Tiantian, who beat Serena Williams last year.

But for many people the focus will be on Martina Hingis, who makes her comeback to a tournament she won three times in a night match against Russian 30th seed Vera Zvonareva.

The Australian Open is her most successful Grand Slam by far. She won in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and lost in the final in the following three years before injury cut her career short.

Also on court Tuesday is Belgian number two seed Kim Clijsters, who is scheduled to tackle Cho Yoon-jeong of South Korea but who is yet to prove she has fully recovered from a hip injury suffered last week.

On a difficult Day Two for seeds at Australian Open 2006, Hewitt needed nearly four hours to beat Vik 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.

It was in stark contrast to his main rival for the title, world No.1 Roger Federer, who could not have been more impressive in cruising through his first-round match against Uzkbekistan wildcard Denis Istomin 6-2 6-3 6-2 in less than an hour and a half.

But Federer was one of the few stars in the top half of the draw to have an easy time of it on Day Two as No.6 seed Guillermo Coria was also taken to five sets before progressing as was No.5 seed Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

However it was Hewitt's struggle on Rod Laver Arena that dominated Day Two as the rusty two-time Grand Slam champion, who was playing only his sixth match following groin and toe injuries - which have sidelined him since September - so nearly bowed out of the tournament.

Against the second most improved player on tour last year - Vik cut his ranking 362 places to 62, an effort only bettered by Scot Andy Murray - Hewitt was constantly run around by Vik's clever drop shots.

And when Vik broke Hewitt in the first game of the fourth set and had break points on Hewitt's serve in the fifth game to go two breaks up, Australia's great hope looked set for an embarrassing early exit.

But Hewitt broke back in the eighth game and won the fourth set in the tiebreaker and despite his calf needing treatment in the final set, he yet again displayed his renowned fighting qualities to prevail in a classic match.

Afterwards Hewitt said he hoped the long match would hold him in good stead for the rest of the tournament.

"There was a lot of long rallies from the baseline, we are both not big servers so there was not a lot of cheap points," Hewitt said.

"But's that what you do your off season work for and hopefully it is going to pay off over the next couple of weeks."

Hewitt now faces another potential epic in round two against old foe Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, who was involved in a fiery match against Hewitt at Melbourne Park in 2005.

LITTLE Lleyton Hewitt has lobbed to play in the Little Lleyton Open. Apparently nobody has listened to him and he must play on a court that has not been prepared to suit his game. So he's grumpy.

Foolishly, Paul McNamee thinks the Australian Open is a Grand Slam event, regarded by some as the best of the year, and that it should not be prepared to favour one man or woman ahead of another. The Hewitt huddle thinks differently, and exactly why the tournament is not actually played in the Australian No.1's backyard confounds them.

All this is familiar territory, court included. Soon Little Lleyton's trumpeters in the media will tell us whether the court is too large, the crowd too quiet, the surface absurd, the balls without bounce, the net too high and the toilet rolls too rough.

The only difference is Hewitt comes not in triumph. In Adelaide, he was beaten by German Philipp Kohlschreiber who is not even a household name in his own abode. "Hey, darlink, who is the guy with the racquet watching the Blaupunkt?"

Sydney saw Little Lleyton survive a near-death experience. He clung to life and then victory as a virus threatened to floor him before his opponent Vincent Spadea could. The Australian survived, though he says it nearly killed him. He was left with no firewall for Italian Andreas Seppi who gave Hewitt a start and a beating.

Elsewhere Kohlschreiber and Seppi would be described as journeymen. It is a glib remark not available to local media. If they were Australians they would be hailed as the new Hewitt and Pat Rafter.

As it is, if a young Australian can tell the difference between a forehand and a ham sandwich he is hailed as a potential Davis Cup saviour and slobbered over by John Alexander.

A report in the weekend media sought to make sense of Little Lleyton and his relationship with the media. It was put forward by one person interviewed that journalists either see no fault with Hewitt no matter what, loathe him irrespective of his achievements or think he is a champion player with a head as big as Serena Williams', well, hamstrings.

That is not right. No one who has followed Hewitt with half an eye could deny he is one of the nation's best players. Not journalists, not members of the public. He has two Grand Slam titles when world tennis has been at its most competitive. His courage and will to conquer is without bounds. They are the elements that make him so abrasive he can rub opponents raw.

But to assemble the complete tennis player from those who will play this Open Roger Federer would contribute most but Hewitt would be its heart and its soul.

First up he plays Czech Robin Vik, who is no Federer. But he might be a Seppi or a Kohlschreiber and that, on the form of the past two weeks, would be sufficient to end Hewitt's campaign.

His slow start to the summer has been attributed by some to fatherhood. The birth of a child can change a man's priorities. A life can be rearranged. Doting can become more satisfying than a forehand down the line. And high paying women's magazines also suddenly become important, too.

Hewitt alone will decide if nappies, bottles, colic and the like are to become distractions that leave him vulnerable. But he is not the first sportsman to become a parent and it is simple for watchers to finger the obvious. Tiger Woods was said to be all but lost to golf when he married. Rather than losing his head and heart Woods was giving birth to a new swing. Just nobody believed him.

If fatherhood was such a millstone for sports people, coaching manuals would begin with directions to practise birth control first and the volley second.

John Newcombe has another theory. He fancies Hewitt has played too negatively. It is not a new observation and one made regularly even when he was the world No.1 and winning the US Open and Wimbledon.

Todd Woodbridge says that the No.3 seed's game is fine and that it is only a matter of getting into the right frame of mind. A couple of quick kills in the first week will see to that. He will thrive on the expectation and drama of the second week as he did last year. That's Woodbridge's theory. Let's hope Hewitt's former Davis Cup team-mate has read it correctly, for Little Lleyton is so important to the plot.

Three elements will be critical to Hewitt's progress. Given the manner he has prepared and played before previous Australian Opens, his preparation this tournament has been imperfect. No matter how Woodbridge and others look to assess Adelaide and Sydney, that is a fact. How critical will be evident soon enough.

He will not have to face Marat Safin, who beat him in the final last year, nor French Open champion Rafael Nadal. They are absent injured. But there is Federer and the Australian has not beaten him since the summer of 1922.

Finally, contenders are beginning to clutter around Hewitt. Tennis experts tell us to beware the obvious: Federer and Andy Roddick, but add players like Tomas Berdych, Ivan Ljubicic and Nikolay Davydenko. David Nalbandian, of course, has a famous victory over Hewitt that delivered Argentina Davis Cup victory.

Hewitt, on yesterday's comments, is on edge and that is never a bad thing with the champion. But if he continues to fret about the pace of the courts, if he remains non-committal about the Davis Cup, then he should look to his daughter for inspiration. Or her dummy at the very least.