New York keeps an Open mind
By MARK RILEY
Tuesday 11 September 2001

Australia's newest tennis champion had the keys of New York City in his
hands for a night.

The boisterous bars and glitzy celebrity hang-outs of Manhattan should have
been Lleyton Hewitt's for the asking.


But there was one big problem. Hewitt may have been old enough to demolish
Pete Sampras in the US Open tennis final, but the 20-year-old is still a
year too young to enjoy a celebratory drink in New York. Winning the US
Open brings certain treasures, like an $US850,000 ($A1.6 million) pay
cheque, but it can't buy you a beer in Manhattan unless you are 21.

Hewitt opted to celebrate his win with family and friends at an abstemious
and subdued dinner in a quiet Italian restaurant off the fashion boulevard
of 5th Avenue.

It was far from the boisterous scenes of Pat Rafter's victory celebrations
after his dual wins, when groups of Australians partied until sunrise at a
Manhattan bar and were led in endless beer-sodden renditions of Waltzing
Matilda by tennis great John Newcombe.

(Embedded image moved to file: pic00041.pcx)But that is just one of the
many differences between Hewitt and Rafter that are starting to dawn on
Australian sports fans as they see more of this talented and sometimes
tempestuous young player from Adelaide.

Hewitt spent the night kissing and cuddling his girlfriend, Belgian tennis
star Kim Clijsters, and chatting with his parents, Glynn and Cherilyn, and
other family members. His eyes lit up when Newcombe arrived to have a quick
drink, and then when a group of Western Bulldogs footballers, who just
happened to be in town, dropped in to say congratulations.

Craig Ellis, their defender, said he and Tony Liberatore, Nathan Brown,
Simon Garlick and Luke Darcy had all gone to the match.

Brown had handpassed a football to Hewitt as he came off centre court after
the match. He caught it. Football is the young sportsman's second love.

Hewitt's coach, Darren Cahill, said the subdued celebration was in keeping
with Hewitt's off-court character.

Cahill also said he hoped Hewitt's win would finally endear him to those in
Australia who have found it difficult to like him because of his on-court
histrionics and his ill-considered comments, such as calling an umpire a
"spastic" and referring to Australian tennis fans as "stupid".


"He's a good kid," Cahill said. "He certainly goes out there and gives it
his all every time he plays. Even Lleyton said he's now learning not to get
so pumped up all the time, and maybe that was some of the stuff that
alienated some of his supporters back home. It's pretty hard not to like
the kid when he's done what he's done the past four or five days."


Hewitt will inevitably suffer in comparisons with Rafter as Australia's
next tennis champion. He does not possess the laconic humor and
self-effacing ways of Rafter, nor does he share the easy relationship
Rafter has welded with the Australian press over the years - something he
recognised as important in maintaining his image.


Rafter had invited the media into his post-win celebrations in Manhattan,
knowing that the footage of the revelry would be beamed to fans back in
Australia.


As Hewitt left his dinner on Sunday night, he was shepherded through a side
door and into a waiting taxi.


Two members of the Australian press, who had arranged with Hewitt's public
relations advisers to get photos of him as he left for the night, were
shoved aside by the restaurant staff and had their cameras covered as
Hewitt walked past. "I did it because that's what Lleyton asked me to do,"
the restaurant manager later told The Age.


Cahill later apologised, saying it had been a misunderstanding: "He's not
going to get crucified in the press again, is he? Doesn't he deserve his
moment of glory?"


Indeed he does, but a sober moment it must be for an under-age young man
with an ageless sporting talent.

The day a boy marked himself as the next big thing
(www.smh.com.au) Sep 11, 01

Lleyton Hewitt's talent has always stood out. Roy Masters recognised it on
the US Open champion's first professional outing, in January 1997.


The future of Australian tennis is aged 15, wears a crooked smile and talks
to himself between points.


Playing in his first pro tournament match, the Australian Open in Melbourne
yesterday, Adelaide's Lleyton Hewitt was defeated by two-times French Open
champion Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-3 6-4 6-3.


However, Hewitt's performance brought that look to the faces of Australian
tennis officials the three wise men must have shown when they saw the star
rise in the east.


Taciturn Neale Fraser, the former Australian Davis Cup captain, watched the
Year 11 student for six games of the second set and said: "I've seen enough
to know this kid is going to be good.


"He is only knee-high to a grasshopper, and the court is too big for his
little legs to cover it, but when he gets taller and stronger he will be
something."


Hewitt also demonstrated an endearing brand of self-effacing good humour at
the post-match press conference, declaring he would have preferred to play
world No1 Pete Sampras in the opening round.


As he scampered nimble-footed across the baseline yesterday, playing with a
tenacity beyond his years, he alternatively admonished and encouraged
himself, saying loudly, "Give him the point", "Come on", "Give me a break".


Hewitt reached the Open by winning a qualifying match against Mark Petchey,
one of Britain's top five players. Bruguera, 26, said of Hewitt: "He has
great hands and hits the ball very well, but he has no power because he is
only 15 years of age."


Afterwards, Hewitt reflected that old Australian bonhomie in the Lew
Hoad-Rod Laver co-operative tradition when talking about his first grand
slam tournament. "Yep," he said. "It's a lot of hype. I thought there would
be more talking and stuff down in the change rooms and that. Everyone is
sort of to themselves.


"They are not like the Aussies. They don't talk to you much."


He was genuinely humbled by the horde of autograph seekers who greeted him,
admitting he had been practising his signature.


"They were the first autographs I've signed, apart from one guy who came up
after a practice hit the other day," he said. "I was surprised he knew my
name."


He said of his $9,000 loser's money: "I'll give a bit to the Australian
Institute of Sport and I'll just put the rest in the bank."

-FROM NOW, IT'S A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME

By Paul Malone in New York

LLEYTON Hewitt today steps up the multi-million dollar game of selling
himself to the United States public with a hectic first day as a Grand Slam
tennis champion.


Hewitt yesterday emerged as a popular US Open winner, applauded by New
Yorkers for his cool manner and sparkling tennis, a week after he had been
criticised as having accused of having claimed an African-American linesman
was biased against him on the basis of race.


The 20-year-old Australian was well received at the official presentations
by the majority of the 24,000 spectators who were disappointed opponent
Pete Sampras could not prolong a landslide final.


Hewitt's management group, Octagon, and the Association of Tennis
Professionals will set him to work early on the morning after his
restrained victory celebrations with six television interviews with
national US programmes.


New Grand Slam tennis champions have been signed to multi-year deals of
more than $20million in the first year after their breakthrough, but
Hewitt's nationality and past image problems will mean he will take longer
to reap the full rewards of his success.


Hewitt, who pockets a cheque for $A1.4million for his triumph, will do
media interviews for the global and American Cable News Network services,
as well as breakfast television shows for CBS, ABC and PBS networks and an
appearance on the top-rating morning show, "Live with Regis and Kelly".


"The round of the shows will make him more well known. He has done it all
himself in the last few days with his tennis, but this adds to it," said
his New York agent Kelly Wolf.


"It will be a long day for him. To win a Grand Slam title is what it takes
to get anyone known here. A gentleman in charge of our marketing says: 'No
one remembers losers, only winners.'.


"It will have a lot to do with his personality. Hopefully it will bring us
a lot more opportunities. It might make things happen faster."


Hewitt insisted the win would not change him, even though past young Grand
Slam champions such as Boris Becker and Martina Hingis have found the
millions of dollars in endorsements and international fame also create
pressures.


"I hope I'm going to be the same person. I'm going to hang out with my
mates and it's not going to change anything," he said.


His coach Darren Cahill said: "He'll be fine. This is what he's dreamed
about doing from the moment I met him when he was 12.


"He used to talk about playing Grand Slam finals against ... well, at that
time it was (Ivan) Lendl and (Mats) Wilander. He was ready to be a top
player even then."


US Davis Cup captain and CBS commentator Patrick McEnroe said it was too
early to say whether the US public would forget the publicity given to
Hewitt and it might make him less valuable a vehicle for sponsors.


Hewitt said his comments about African-American linesman Marion Johnson in
his second round match were misinterpreted and were not race-related.


"I hope it passes and he can learn from it It would have been a lot better
if he said maybe he made a mistake and didn't mean it the way he said it,"
McEnroe said.


"But he is who he is, stubborn, and that's part of what makes him such a
tough competitor and great player.


"It seems to have quieted down and people forget pretty quickly. It would
be good for him to get a little out of his own bubble, but he's great for
tennis because he is such a competitor."

Lleyton's big day in the Big Apple


6.45am: Lleyton Hewitt rises, has breakfast, and gets ready.


7.45am: Limosine arrives for his first media interviews in mid-town
Manhattan television studios.


8.20am-10.00am: First television interview with CNN for US market. Will
also do interviews with CNN International, the CBS Early Show, ABC's Good
Morning America and Live with Regis and Kelly, PBS's Charlie Rose Show.


10.30am-10.45am: Photo shoot with the trophy at Grand Central Station at
42nd Street, Manhattan.


11am: Press luncheon at Australian Consulate at nearby 42nd Street address.


1pm: Returns to hotel to pack, has meetings with business advisers and
relaxes.


6.30pm: Catches flight from New York to Sydney and Adelaide.


ICE COOL CALM EVEN SURPRISED KIM


GIRLFRIEND Kim Clijsters couldn't believe how calm Lleyton Hewitt was
before the final yesterday.


"He didn't even look nervous," the 18-year-old Belgian tennis player said.
"That surprised me."


Clijsters, who was two points from winning the French Open this year,
watched the match from the players' box beside Hewitt's parents Glynn and
Cherilyn.


"A lot of other players will look up to him now," she said. "And they will
be a lot more focused when they have to play him and try to beat him. It's
going to be even harder. But that's not what we have to think about now. We
can enjoy every moment."


Glynn Hewitt said he was amazed at how his son handled the big match
pressure.


Mr Hewitt, a veteran of 304 senior Australian Rules games, said he told his
son to "believe in himself" before taking on Sampras.


"He's been so relaxed," Mr Hewitt said.


"Kim's been great with him. Everyone else has been more nervous than he's
been.


"I think he's had such a good grounding with Davis Cup and big crowds at
such a young age."


Mr Hewitt said he was particularly impressed with how well his 20-year-old
son handled the third set. Many players have crumbled under the pressure of


realising they were just a few points away from a Grand Slam win.


"As the game gets closer you hear about guys starting to think about the
finish line rather than just playing each point as it comes along," he
said.


"The way he was playing at that stage you couldn't see him losing unless
something went wrong in the head.


"But he was tough right to the finish."


Mr Hewitt said he was not sure what Lleyton's next goal would be.


"If you listen to him, once he won a slam he said he would go back to play
for the (Adelaide) Crows."

THE MATCH


How The Daily Telegraph's PAUL MALONE saw Lleyton Hewitt's finest hour from
courtside at Flushing Meadows


QUICKSILVER Lleyton Hewitt yesterday morning stunned the tennis world with
a nerveless display in his first Grand Slam title which clinched a US Open
win.


That Hewitt, seeded fourth, would beat Pete Sampras, seeded 10th, at this
cross-section of their careers was only a minor surprise, but the
domination achieved in his 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1 win defied belief.


Hewitt made Sampras, the most prolific winner in Grand Slam men's tennis,
look old and slow with his astonishing mobility and energy and silence a
vocal 23,000 crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium and claim $A1.4million in
prizemoney.


At 20 years, six months, Hewitt is the youngest winner of the US Open since
Sampras broke through at 19 in 1990 and it means Australian men have
triumphed in New York in three of the past five years.


He is the 11th Australian to have won the US men's title and joins Pat
Rafter (1997-98), John Newcombe (1973), Ken Rosewall (1970) and Rod Laver
(1969) as Open-era winners of the US singles.


Sampras, 30, praised the mental toughness of Hewitt to maintain his focus
on his progress through the tournament despite being enveloped in a
controversy where Americans accused him of being biased against linesman
Marion Johnson in his second round match on the basis of his
African-American race.


Rarely in his career has Sampras been forced to hit so many low volleys.


In one hour and 54 minutes, a beaming Hewitt reached up into the grandstand
to shake hands with coach Darren Cahill and kiss his Belgian girlfriend Kim
Clijsters, runner-up at the French Open three months ago.


The 20-year-old Australian, who had set a tough target date of 2004 for his
maiden Grand Slam title, fell flat on his back after clinching the final
with a rocket backhand return past the bewildered Sampras.


Hewitt produced only 13 unforced errors and his penetration led Sampras to
make 38 unforced errors in attempting to force the pace.


In the second set, Hewitt gave up one unforced error, compared to 11 by
Sampras, in a nerveless and persistent display which harrassed the great
Amefican into simple and unseemly errors.


Sampras's serve-volley game, which has taken him to seven Wimbledon titles
and a record 13 major titles, collapsed under the strain of Hewitt's
reflexes on the return of serve and razor-sharp passing shots.


Four previous opponents had been unable to win a game on Sampras's serve,
but Hewitt pounced hungrily an an opportunity in the first game of the
match against an opponent who had held serve 87 games in succession at
Flushing Meadows.


The Adelaide slugger ripped two passing shots to break serve for a 1-0
lead, but dropped his own delivery in the next game.


Hewitt had lost the first set tiebreak in a three-set semi-final loss to
Sampras in the semi-finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium last year, but soon
showed the four-time US Open what he had learned in the interim.


Sampras netted a half-volley on the first point of the tiebreak and even
though Hewitt double-faulted to bring the American level at 3-all.


An call overrule by umpire Norm Chryst put Hewitt up 4-3 and the Australian
did not relinquish a lead increased by a forehand error from Sampras.


In the first game of the third set, Hewitt broke Sampras again ? by then it
had lost the novelty ? when he whipped a backhand passing beyond a
ponderous, worried lunge.


Hewitt's speed and scrambling ability had Sampras permanently on edge and
the 10th seed air-mailed many groundstrokes over the baseline by
embarrassing distances.


Sampras fell to his second sucecssive straight-sets defeat in a US Open
final and the programming of the semi-finals and finals over two days again
appeared to sap his energy.


The 30-year-old insisted after his semi-final win over 2000 champion Marat
Safin that he had been fresher this year, even though fourth round and
quarter-final opponents Pat Rafter and Andre Agassi had taken him to four
draining sets earlier in the week. It did not look it when he was matched
up against the effervescence of the young Australian.


Hewitt's parents Glynn and Cherilyn, and Clijsters appeared to be jangling
with nerves as they sat in a courtside box willing him to close out the
final in three sets.


Sampras has not won a tour title since he saw off Rafter in the 2000
Wimbledon final and the result re-inforced the belief that he does not have
the stamina anymore to win a seven-match Grand Slam tournament.


The verdict ends Sampras's sequence of having won a Grand Slam title ever
year for eight years.

A little battler always destined for big things
By PATRICK SMITH
11sep01

WHEN Lleyton Hewitt fell over backwards on winning the US Open, it was only
because he was acutely aware of what he had achieved.

He has been planning it since he was a child -- not the falling over, the
winning. He has been consumed by tennis. He has given up much for it.

And it has shown. Hewitt has been a precocious talent, but at times
petulant and rude. He has made it hard to enjoy Hewitt the tennis player.
He has given his opponents less than appropriate respect. He has even
called Australian crowds stupid and linespeople "spastics". He has been
insensitive to social nuances and he has paid for that at this tournament.


That happens if you are blinkered by ambition and driven in one direction.
As Hewitt's support team rightly enjoys his wonderful success at Flushing
Meadows, it should reflect if there might have been an easier way.


Hewitt's father Glynn played Australian rules in Adelaide and had a short
stint with Richmond in the VFL. His mother, Cherilyn is a physical
education teacher. Hewitt was always going to play sport.


He was big news when he was little. At 13 he elected to make tennis his one
sporting pursuit. Tennis was so hungry for a new star to follow Pat Cash
that it had almost passed out. Pat Rafter would develop slowly and there
was no sense that he was to be a two-time US Open winner. There was a
vacuum of hope and it sucked in Hewitt.


The boy was always doing things before his time, except growing up. So
dominant as a junior, he played out of his age group. He had to be tough in
the head and canny, too, to compete with physically bigger opponents. He
says that is where he developed his extraordinary ability to home in on
nothing but the ball.


There is no doubt that this skill of blocking everything but the essential
out of his mind is a strength.


Hewitt was the No.1-ranked junior in the national under-18 competition when
he was 15. Before he had turned 16 he had qualified for the Australian
Open. A year later, he won his hometown title in Adelaide, defeating Andre
Agassi along the way. No one since Michael Chang in 1988 had won an ATP
tournament at a younger age. The kid was on his way.


His support group fumes when it is suggested he has been indulged, but his
two weeks at Flushing Meadows are overwhelming proof. He should never have
caused the commotion that he did against James Blake in his second-round
match, but it would seem apparent that he had hardly been counselled
against it. Nevertheless, he has learnt from his mauling. He was a reformed
man in the final. His behaviour was exemplary, his form exquisite.


The sporting community will be thrilled to see a young man achieve so
decisively what he had set out to do. After thrashing four-time champion
Sampras so thoroughly, Hewitt said: "I've looked forward to this moment.
You know, it is something that you dream of doing, walking out there and
playing in a Grand Slam final. Obviously I had a few nerves coming in there
playing possibly the greatest player ever to live in probably my biggest
ever match."


And when he says that he has been through a lot of things for a
20-year-old, you believe him. He has played big matches for himself and for
his country in Davis Cup. He has drawn enormous criticism, too. Before the
match, he sought guidance from his usual support group. He spoke by phone
to Rafter. In the locker room were his girlfriend Kim Clijsters, coach
Darren Cahill and Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald. They talked tactics,
tried to settle his nerves. Clijsters told him to go out and enjoy himself,
the exact message Rafter gave him. One hour 54 minutes later, he was US
Open champion.


"I looked at the names on the trophy. To see the guys who have held up this
trophy, to now have my name under those guys it is an unbelievable feeling.
It is something that words can't describe. You dream of winning a Grand
Slam when you are a young boy. I've been to so many Australian Opens,
watched so many great players. You know, it's these moments," he said
afterwards.


He has not dreamed alone. He has been with Cahill for eight years. "This is
what he's dreamed about doing -- from the moment I started hitting with him
when he was 12 years old -- playing Grand Slam singles finals against
probably the greatest player of all time, Pete Sampras," Cahill said.


"He used to talk about all the greats, Lendl, Wilander, the Swedes. He's
always wanted to be among the top echelon in tennis players, and that's
been his goal ever since he's been a young kid. He's always believed that
he could get there, and you couldn't get him there quick enough. He was
ready to be a top tennis player when he was in his early teens."


It might have been a rocky road, but it has not been a long one. He may
have lacked many things along the way, but this kid from Adelaide has never
lacked a sense of direction.

How the Hewitt made it to the top
By ANDREW McGARRY
11sep01

PETER SMITH paused from the interview to answer his mobile phone for the
umpteenth time yesterday.

For once, however, it wasn't a nosy reporter seeking quotes -- it was
Lleyton Hewitt, wanting to share his US Open triumph with the man who was
his first coach at the age of 6.


Smith, who now heads the Next Generation tennis program at Memorial Drive
in Adelaide, could hardly hear his protege over the din of post-match
celebrations in New York.


"He was happy, almost giggling," Smith said.


"He said he'd done two hours (of media commitments) and he's got a day and
a half all up before he gets out of there."


Smith, who came down to the tennis club at 5.30am local time to watch the
final, recalled the young, talented junior in his charge.


"He didn't have any of the modern emphasis on personal trainers, dieticians
or sports psychiatrists. He loved to be on the court. He loved to practise
and he loved to play," he said.


"By (the age of) 7 or 8, there were signs he was good. By 10 or 12, there
were signs he was outstanding, by 13 or 14 he was playing tournament
tennis, by 15 he qualified for the Australian Open, and by 16 he won the
AAPT Championship."


While Smith was overjoyed at Hewitt's success, he was concerned about the
possible flood of young tennis players and their parents drawn to the sport
by his story.


"There's probably hundreds and hundreds of kids with their entourages all
thinking that they are going to make it," he said.


"Of those hundreds around Australia, only one or two are going to make it
and the rest of them will have lost a lot of their childhood."


Across the city at Happy Valley Tennis Club in Adelaide's south, a picture
on the clubhouse wall shows Hewitt receiving a trophy for the most
consistent player in pennant tennis.


When he was 15 and 16, Hewitt played for Happy Valley, occasionally
partnering his friend, Peter Smith's son, Brett, in doubles.


By his second year, Hewitt was the No.1 player on the team, mixing his time
between local tennis and senior tour tournaments such as the AAPT
Championship.


"If he lost at Memorial Drive on the Friday, he would play for us in the
pennant on Saturday," club president Neil Eckermann said.


"He's gone from crowds of 30 to 50 people, to crowds of 10,000 and more,
and television audiences of millions.


"Certainly he would be quite welcome to play for us these days (in pennant
tennis) but I don't know quite what his fee would be."


Lleyton yearns for love at home
By PAUL MALONE in New York (The Daily Telegraph)
11sep01

US OPEN tennis champion Lleyton Hewitt hopes the Australian public will
learn to love him after he surged to a maiden Grand Slam win with a
performance which mystified the great Pete Sampras.

Hewitt's performance in a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1 final in yesterday's stunning
final in New York was regarded as his vanquished opponent Sampras, the
winner of more major titles than any other man, as the best he had ever
encountered.


With five cucumber-cool performances in New York since an irate exchange
over a linesman led to international condemnation, the 20-year-old
Australian will have won over many of the sports fans annoyed by how often
he yelled and pumped his fists in matches in his career.


Hewitt's coach Darren Cahill and former Davis Cup captain John Newcombe
believe he has realised a less emotional approach will help him win more
major titles in the wake of his criticism for making what Americans
regarded as racial refences against an African-American linesman on
September 2.


Hewitt gave Australians every reason to embrace his tennis career more
fervantly with his calm behaviour and astonishing tennis as a underdog in
the final.


"That would be great. but I'm sure that everyone in Australia was behind me
today. That's the kind of country we are," said Hewitt, who received
$A1.48million in prizemoney and improves his world ranking to a career-best
third.


"I had to learn how to play best-of-five set matches and I did that here.
You can waste a lot of energy on not the right points, if you're not
careful.


"Maybe I'll be a stronger for it (the race furore) and maybe this (winning
the final) is one of the signs of it.


"I have to be really proud of myself for the way I've done that under so
much pressure."


After sustaining a standard of tennis and concentration beyond his years,
Hewitt, the youngest men's champion in New York since Sampras's 1990
breakthrough at the age of 19, was charmingly awestruck at what he had
accomplished.


"To have won at 20 ... four years ago I was playing juniors and I lost in
the round of 16 or something. No one watched me play. No one could care
less," said Hewitt, who will return to Adelaide tomorrow for a few days of
relaxation before he plays a Davis Cup tie in Sydney next week.


"For me to stand there and Pete's holding the runners-up plate, it just
didn't click for me. I kept checking the score (in the third) ... was I
really two points away from winning?


"I looked at the names on the trophy as it was sitting in front of me. To
now have my name under those guys, it's an unbelievable feeling."


Cahill and Hewitt's father Glynn admitted they had not expected the South
Australian to win his first major title at the tournament.


Under New York licensing laws, Hewitt was not permitted to legally drink
alcohol at his post-match celebrations at a Manhattan bar and he sipped
cola at the start of a function attended by his family, girlfriend Kim
Clijsters and his Australian tennis friends.


"It hurts (not to have a beer) when back in Australia I have been able to
have one for a couple a couple of years ago and I can't have one here," he
said.


Sampras, the winner of 13 Grand Slam titles, said he felt "overpowered" by
Hewitt and no opponent had played better against him.


"You'll see him contending here for the next 10 years. He returned and
passed as well as anyone I think I've ever seen," Sampras said.


Hewitt said he had received two faxes from Prime Minister John Howard
during the two-week tournament.


"Starting at the top, that was pretty impression. That meant a lot to me
anyway," he said.


"I got one from my football team (Adelaide Crows) too."


Searching for every possible edge, Hewitt rang Davis Cup teammate Pat
Rafter in Brisbane for tips and also consulted his girlfriend Kim
Clijsters, a French Open runner-up.


"Pat told me to go out and enjoy myself, which was the same advice
(Newcombe and former team coach Tony Roche) gave Pat before his first final
(in 1997)," Hewitt said.


Glynn Hewitt, a former top Australian footballer in Adelaide, said he did
not expect his son to win his first major title at the tournament.


"I thought it was a little bit tough for him because of his size and the
way he plays," he said.


"Normally his feets are cut to blazes and the toenails are coming off when
he plays so much on the hardcourts."

Sampras loss may be a sign

Veteran has now suffered two straight bad beatings in U.S. Open finals



NEW YORK, Sept. 9 — Even after slaying a parade of former champions, Pete Sampras knew his toughest match would come in the championship round. What he didn’t expect was an encore of last year’s nightmare, when his hungry, young foe, playing in his first Grand Slam final, would come up with the match of his life to win the U.S. Open.


EXACTLY 365 DAYS after a 20-year-old Marat Safin turned Sampras’ expected coronation into the living legend’s worst loss in a major tournament final, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt did further damage to Sampras’ aura and psyche. With a sensational display of serve defense, shotmaking and outright hustle, the No. 4 seed stunned the four-time Open champion, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1, force-feeding Sampras his second humbling, straight-set defeat in as many years.
In becoming the third Australian to capture the men’s singles crown in five years, following shortly after Patrick Rafter’s 1997 and 1998 titles, Hewitt becomes the latest in an illustrious line of champions from Down Under. Looks like the old Aussie Mafia is back in business.

After his numbing defeat, Sampras termed it even more of a disappointment than last year’s 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 pounding, when Safin blitzed Sampras from every angle. In that match, Sampras said he was “overpowered.” On Sunday, he said he was “outplayed.” And considering that the 30-year-old American won two less games in this final than the 10 total games he won against Safin, I couldn’t agree more.
Sampras simply had no chance. Hewitt did everything right, chasing down nearly every ball with rabbit-quick strides and returning serve with remarkable efficiency. While it’s hard to imagine, Sampras, whose titleless streak now extends to 18 tournaments dating back 2000 Wimbledon, was probably lucky not to have been beaten even worse.
In winning his first career major title, the 20-year-old Hewitt had an answer for every Sampras tactic. Worse for the seven-time Open finalist, Hewitt delivered a prolific 1-2 punch: the low return and the passing shot. He kept getting Sampras’ power serves back, while only allowing himself to be aced 11 times. In breaking Sampras’ serve six times — three times in the final set — Hewitt fashioned himself as a pedicurist, using service returns to paint Pete’s toenails, time and time again. And when his legendary opponent rushed net, Hewitt passed him like an off-duty cabbie racing by a stranded fare.
Of the 98 times Sampras rushed net, he won exactly half those points. Compare that to his extraordinary quarterfinal win over Andre Agassi, when he won 70 percent of his net approaches. Against Safin in the semis, he won 67 percent of those points. Hewitt, however, had Sampras’ number. As the winner of a record 13 major titles correctly noted, Hewitt is not your grandfather’s Aussie champion. He’s not a serve-and-volleyer like his country’s predecessors — he’s a serve-and-volley killer. He showed that, and more, against Sampras.





Coming into the match, I thought Hewitt, who lost to Sampras in last year’s semifinal, was going to make it very close and maybe even win. But I never thought he could win the way he did, dismantling Sampras’ vaunted serve while committing a paltry 13 unforced errors, as compared to an uncharacteristic 38 for his veteran opponent. Hewitt wasted no time chipping away at his deadly serve, breaking Sampras in the very first game to end Sampras’ incredible streak of service games won at 87.
While Sampras mentioned that a very stiff wind running the length of the court affected his game at the outset, I think his undoing was more a function of being drained by his previous three matches against Rafter, Agassi and Safin. I also think Hewitt caught him at the optimum time, playing Sampras just one day after he beat Safin. Prior to that match, Sampras had 2 1/2 days to recover from his heavyweight bout with Agassi.
But none of that should overshadow the fact that the kid was just plain hot. Even with more rest Sampras still may not have beaten him. Hewitt, who was incredibly sharp, also had to play on Saturday. Sunday’s result is partly the difference between how a 20-year-old and a 30-year-old bounces back on just one day’s rest.
So with Hewitt leaving the court with the silver trophy, and Sampras with only more questions, we may be looking at a changing of the guard. Can Sampras, who has never won the Open in the five-year history of Arthur Ashe Stadium, ever break through again? We’ll have to see. In the meantime, he’s got roughly another 365 days to contemplate his newest designation as the U.S. Open’s fall guy for rising stars.

Hewitt outclasses hero                                                       
                                                                              
 www.news.com.au                                                              
 10sep01                                                                      
                                                                              
 NEW YORK: At 12 years old, hitting balls with the man who would become his   
 coach, Lleyton Hewitt used to imagine he'd one day play Pete Sampras in a    
 grand slam final.                                                            
                                                                              
 Tonight pride oozed from coach Darren Cahill after Hewitt went one step      
 further than that and blitzed Sampras to win the US Open.                    
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "This is what he's dreamed about doing, from the moment I started hitting    
 with him ? playing grand slam singles finals against probably the greatest   
 player of all time, Pete Sampras," Cahill said.                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "It was a dream come true for him to play Pete today, and win or lose it was 
 going to be a great learning curve for him to compete in today's final."     
                                                                              
                                                                              
 Cahill has fought a losing battle to temper Hewitt's surging ambition.       
 Despite the immense talent which allowed him to win his first ATP tournament 
 at 16, the pair had budgeted only on him winning a grand slam at around 23.  
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "He's always wanted to be amongst the top echelon in tennis players, and     
 that's been his goal ever since he's been a young kid," said Cahill, who     
 himself reached the US Open semis in 1988.                                   
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "He's always believed that he could get there, and you couldn't get him there
 quick enough. He was ready to be a top tennis player when he was in his early
 teens."                                                                      
                                                                              
                                                                              
 Cahill estimated there was still "three or four years of development" left in
 Hewitt's game, which has already netted him 10 titles.                       
                                                                              
                                                                              
 He said Hewitt had learned to focus only on tennis after the complaint over a
 linesman that blew into an ugly race row here, and he hoped Australians would
 now get behind the highly animated youngster.                                
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "I hope so. He's a good kid," he said.                                       
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "He certainly goes out there and gives it his all every time he plays.       
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "Even Lleyton said he's learning not to get so pumped up all the time, and   
 maybe that was some of the stuff that alienated some people.                 
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "It's pretty hard not to like the kid when he's done what he's done the last 
 four or five days. He's been the perfect professional focused tennis player. 
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "That's what we've been working on trying to get him to do for the last three
 years, and this is how it's turned out."                                     
                                                                              
                                                                              
 Hewitt's former Davis Cup captain John Newcombe said he had now "passed over 
 into another era" with his first grand slam title.                           
                                                                              
                                                                              
 He had earned the title, Newcombe said, with a toughness which came from     
 being smaller than most of his contemporaries, and a willingness to learn.   
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "One of Lleyton's great strengths is that he is an observer. He observes     
 other champions. He puts that to good use when he plays," Newcombe said.     
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "This is great for Australia. What we need now is for some other young       
 players to step up to the plate to support Lleyton for the next eight years."
                                                                              
                                                                              
 Hewitt's father Glynn, a former South Australia representative in Aussie     
 Rules, said his son had even surprised him today.                            
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "Personally, I didn't think he was ready yet," said Hewitt Snr, half of a    
 rich gene equation for Hewitt with his wife Sherilyn, a former top grade     
 netballer.                                                                   
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "I just thought with his size, to come through seven best-of-five-set        
 matches, and the way he plays the matches, that it would be tough.           
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "He has to work pretty hard the whole time. Normally midway through a        
 tournament his feet are blistered and his toenails are hanging out.          
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "He's held together pretty well this time."                                  
                                                                              
                                                                              
 Some of Hewitt's highest praise came from his girlfriend of 18 months,       
 Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters, who felt the pain of losing her first     
 grand slam final at this year's French Open.                                 
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "It surprised me that he didn't appear nervous. That he was focused right to 
 the end," she said.                                                          
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "But it's what he's been building up to for the year. He's known for a year  
 that he's good enough to win a grand slam.                                   
                                                                              
                                                                              
 "I'm very proud and very happy."                                 
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                              
 
September 10, 2001

Young Legs Beat Old Legs, Again

By GEORGE VECSEY

HE kid could have played all night. He was scampering around the court, still single-minded, still fresh, after six opponents and one controversy.

It's great to be 20, particularly in tennis, where there are no substitutes resting on the bench and you have to grit it out for two weeks.

In baseball, a Barry Bonds can have 63 home runs only one-third through September at the advanced age of 37. But Pete Sampras looked very old yesterday at 30 and Lleyton Hewitt looked very young at 20.

"He's got the best return in the game," Sampras said after being totally thwacked, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1, in the men's singles final of the United States Open.

"He's got the best wheels in the game," Sampras added.

The young wheels were able to withstand the demolition derby of the Open, with its brutal back-to-back matches on the last weekend.

"I wouldn't mind seeing a Friday semifinal and a Sunday final," Sampras said wanly after it was over.

That will never happen, not as long as there is such a thing as television money, so the final will always favor the kid. Last year Sampras lost to Marat Safin, 20 at the time.

After losing to Sampras on Saturday, Safin said you usually know within two games if Pete has his A game these days. Yesterday, Pete was broken in the very first game. "That wasn't the start I was looking for," Sampras said ruefully.

U.S. Open Coverage
Discuss the U.S. Open

The Open wears players down with its day sessions and its evening sessions, its gigantic traffic jams and its brusque New York energy jangling like so many expensive watches and so many cell phones. It takes a kid to shrug it off, a kid with not much memory and not much mind-set, a kid as Sampras was back in 1990, when he had just turned 19 and won this for the first time.

Kids scare old gunslingers. The nasty little outlaw named Billy the Kid had a huge psychological edge on his older enemies because they could see he just didn't care.

Hewitt may have thrown that same kind of visceral professional terror into Sampras the way he chased down Pete's early serves. Yet he still looked like a ball boy.

"I've still got my junior photo on my badge here," Hewitt mused, wearing his cap backward, in the postmatch news conference.

He showed his immaturity early in the second round, when he grumbled that James Blake, an American with a black father and white mother, was getting favorable calls from an African-American linesman. Hewitt was clearly heard to complain about the "similarities," but the authorities couldn't find the evidence to bust him.

"He's a very strong, mentally tough guy," Sampras said later. "He really had to deal with some off-court stuff, which doesn't help when you're trying to win a Slam. That seemed to settle down. He just got back to business."

Still being taunted by a few spectators into the quarterfinals, Hewitt watched benignly while Andy Roddick, a year his junior, lost his mind on an overrule in the crucial 10th game of the fifth set. Hewitt closed it out moments later.

The hecklers were gone yesterday. So were Sampras's legs. He gave credit to the kid, but his sheepish look said that Sampras knew he just didn't have it. He has tossed around the possibility of playing five years more, but he will have to face the fact that the kids just keep coming.

Ultimately, Sampras should be proud of beating three former champions in a row. His quarterfinal match with Andre Agassi was the emotional highlight of the entire two weeks, restoring Ashe Stadium to the manic fervor that night tennis used to have in the more intimate Louis Armstrong Stadium.

For other people, the greatest match was the strange final between Venus Williams and Serena Williams. It is to the credit of their parents, Richard and Oracene, no matter how diverse their outlooks and their methods, that these two sisters love each other so much that they could not summon up the inner killer that goes with these events.

Personally, my favorite moment came when the Open revealed itself to have a previously camouflaged sense of humor.

On Friday, the huge screens above the stadium displayed the face of a sleek, handsome gent in his early 60's. A mild splatter of applause meant that a few fans recognized a man of great redeeming social value, Sandy Koufax.

Then, turning from the stereotypical sublime to the clichéd ridiculous, the camera found a luxury box where a patron was vastly overdressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, with his hair all gussied up. Spotting himself on the giant screen, the toff knew he was due for the booing that New Yorkers normally reserve for mayors. He took it well, did Donald Trump.

The patrons go on and on, and the celebrities are always with us, but down on the court there is very often a new 20-year-old with legs that could play all night.

Hewitt on cloud nine                                        
                                                                

Australian Lleyton Hewitt cruised to his first Grand Slam win on Sunday,
blistering past Pete Sampras in straight sets.

The American winner of 13 Grand Slam titles could find no answer to the
superb baseline game of Hewitt, losing 7-6 6-1 6-1.


Sampras, 30, tried to sign off his season with an emotional win in front of
his supportive home crowd.

But 20-year-old Hewitt had little time for sentiment and grabbed the
winner's trophy in his first Grand slam final, with relative ease.

"It's unbelievable," said Hewitt after receiving the winner's prize of
£600,000 ($850,000).


"I've dreamt of this moment, being out here and playing in a Grand Slam
final.


"I got a bit lucky out there and I was seeing the ball very well."


Sampras, who had to beat Andre Agassi and last year's champion Marat Safin
en route to the final, hinted that a new generation of players had taken
over the men's game.


"It was a tough draw for me this past two weeks and I worked really hard to
get here," he added.


"I'm disappointed I didn't play better but Lleyton's returns and passing
shots were the best I've ever seen and I've played against the best. He has
got the quickest first step in the game.


"I lost to a great champion. You're going to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy
for the next 10 years like you saw me.


"It was a good run... unfortunately I ran into a young guy who was a little
too good today."


Sunday, 9 September, 2001, 22:50 GMT 23:50 UK

Hewitt destroys Sampras dream

L Hewitt (Aus) (4) beat P Sampras (US) (10) 7-6 6-1 6-1

Lleyton Hewitt destroyed Pete Sampras in straight sets to win his first
Grand Slam title at the US Open.


The 20-year-old Australian played breathtaking tennis to completely
overwhelm his American opponent whose legendary status is already assured.


With a mixture of spectacular passing shots and dynamic running around the
court, the winner made the result a foregone conclusion as early as the
start of the third set.


Bridging a ten year gap in terms of age and experience, Hewitt showed why
he is considered one of the finest all-court players in modern tennis.


It means that Sampras is denied for the second successive year in the US
Open final, beaten by Marat Safin last year while his tally of Grand Slam
titles stays at 13.


For Sampras, this was one of those days where he had the look of an ageing
heavyweight boxer who all of a sudden finds himself past his best when he
walks into the ring.


His serve was never the dominant weapon it had been in earlier rounds
against Pat Rafter, Andre Agassi and Safin in the semi-final.


And he seemed surprisingly nervous for a man used to being in this position
and by the time he had recovered his composure, his opponent was already
away from him.


After holding his serve for 87 consecutive times in the tournament, he was
broken at his first attempt in the final by an opponent showing little
fear.


Although Hewitt would himself lose his serve to love in the very next game,
he had already established that he would not be intimidated by his
opponent's legendary status.


The set went with serve from there until the tie-break.


But Hewitt was much the sharper and continually forced mini-breaks until he
took the set 7-4.


If the opener had gone against serve, the second was even more surprising,
with Sampras continually netting backhand volleys and finding himself
passed on plenty of other occasions.


The Australian raced to a 5-1 lead after consecutive breaks of the Sampras
serve and he served the set out with no problems.


Finally, Sampras was looking his age, with his serve lacking the usual snap
and self doubt creeping into his game.


Hewitt grabbed an early break in the final set, confirming that his
dominance of this match was now total.


Another break got him to 5-1 and Sampras' performance in the final game of
the match confirmed how bad things had got - two wayward volleys and a
double fault saw his dream finally die.

 Monday, September 10, 2001


Magnificent Lleyton

www.sportal.com.au

Lleyton Hewitt has produced one of the most stunning performances in US
Open history to crush four-time champion Pete Sampras in straight sets.

Playing in his first Grand Slam final Hewitt produced almost a perfect
display of baseline tennis to roll Sampras 7-6 6-1 6-1.


Hewitt showed no fear against the Sampras serve that was lacking its usual
venom, breaking him once in the first set, twice in the second and three
times in the third to clinch victory.


Hewitt was unstoppable in the last two sets after winning the first in a
tie-break while Sampras's game came apart as tried to find an answer to the
Australian's blistering passing shots.


Hewitt came throught the one-sided affair with only 13 unforced errors
while 13-time Grand Slam champion Sampras could not find the consistency of
earlier matches and finished with 38.


Sampras, saved one match point but hit a volley long on Hewitt's next
chance. Hewitt fell to the ground in disbelief, then shook hands with
Sampras before embracing his coach Darren Cahill and girlfriend Kim
Clijsters.


Hewitt was left stunned with his victory and said the reality of it had yet
to sink in.


"It was a dream come true to play Pete in the final who is maybe the
greatest player to have ever lived but I just believed in myself."


"I was quietly confident going into the final but it is such a big occasion
I was just waiting for the nerves to settle in."


But if he was nervous he did not appear to be as he repeatedly ripped
passing shots past Sampras.


"I don't know what to say, I got a little lucky out there, I was seeing the
ball well."


"I started to get in a kind of zone with the passing shots."


Sampras said he felt powerless to stop a rampant Hewitt and predicted that
he could have a career to match his own.


"He was unbelievable, I lost to a great champion," said Sampras who also
lost last year's final to Marat Safin.


"You are going to see Lleyton Hewitt for the next ten years like you saw
me."


"He was unbelievable. The kid is so quick it's unbelievable. Those legs --
I wish I had some of those legs."


Hewitt's victory comes after the most tumultuous two weeks of his career
that saw the 20-year-old embroiled in a race row following his second round
match against African American James Blake.


Hewitt, however shut out all the off-court drama for the rest of the
tournament and gradually improved with each match.


He survived a tough five set match in the quarter-finals against Andy
Roddick before coming out and blasting Yevgeny Kafelnikov off the court in
the semis allowing the Russian to only win four games.


Sampras, in the toughest side of the draw, defeated former champions Pat
Rafter, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin on his way to the final.


In an even first set of tennis, both players made nervous starts losing
their first service games but for Sampras it was a sign of things to come.
Up until the first game of the match Sampras had not been broken in 87
service games.


Hewitt won the first point on Sampras racquet in the tie-break and shot out
to a 3-0 lead before Sampras levelled the scores.


However, Hewitt won another point on Sampras's serve and took the tie-break
7-4 on his first set point.


For the rest of the match Hewitt dominated and he became the third
Australian champion at the Open in the last five years after Pat Rafter won
in 1997 and 1998.                                    
                                                                
                                                                  
                                                                
                                                                  
                                                                  
 HEWITT'S FLUSHED WITH WIN                                        
                                                                  
                                                                  
 By HARRY TALBOT                                                  
                                                                  
                                                                  
 LLEYTON HEWITT powered to a stunning victory in the US Open final
 last night.                                                      
                                                                  
                                                                  
 The 20-year-old Aussie crushed Pete Sampras in straight sets in  
 front of a disbelieving crowd at New York's Flushing Meadows.    
                                                                  
                                                                  
 Fourth-seeded Hewitt never looked back after edging the first set
 on a tie-break.                                                  
                                                                  
                                                                  
 The 7-6 6-1 6-1 rout took just 104 minutes, the last set taking  
 less than half-an-hour.                                          
                                                                  
                                                                  
 Hewitt left his 30- year-old rival trailing with a series of     
 searing passing shots and forehand returns.                      
                                                                  
                                                                  
 American favourite Sampras, seeded 10th, was never really in the 
 hunt and it seems his grip on the Grand Slams could be a thing of
 the past.                                                        
                                                                  
                                                                  
 He made a massive THIRTY-EIGHT unforced errors, served SIX double
 faults and was a shadow of the man who has won four US Open      
 crowns and 13 Grand Slam titles in all.                          
                                                                  
                                                                  
 Hewitt, who collected nearly £600,000 for his triumph, said: "It 
 is unbelievable.                                                 
                                                                  
                                                                  
 "I have dreamt of this moment. It will take some time for it to  
 sink in."                                                        
                                                                  
                                                                  
 The shell-shocked Sampras said: "He was incredible. The kid is so
 quick. I just wish I had some of those legs.                     
                                                                  
                                                                  
 "I lost to a great champ and I think he can be a real force over 
 the next 10 years."                                              
                                                                  
                                                                  
 It was an incredible change in fortunes for Hewitt.              
                                                                  
                                                                  
 He was at the centre of a race row as he scraped through a       
 five-setter in the second round against black American James     
 Blake.                                                           
                                                                  
                                                                  
 Hewitt complained he was getting poor calls from a line judge    
 stressing he, too, was black.                                    
                                                                  
                                                                  
 But Hewitt put all that behind him to hit top form in the final  
 two rounds, also blitzing Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in straight 
 sets in the semi-finals.                                         
                                                                  
                                                    
                                                                  


                                                                         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Hewitt grabs US Open                                                   
                                                                           
                                                                         




By JIM SLATER


AFP (www.theage.com.au)


Monday 10 September 2001


Australia's Lleyton Hewitt captured his first Grand Slam singles title here
today, defeating American veteran Pete Sampras 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 6-1 to win the
US Open final.


The 20-year-old Australian, playing in his first Slam final, chased down
everything Sampras offered and fired deadly winners past the 13-time Slam
champion, who lost the Flushing Meadows final for the second year in a row.


Hewitt won $US850,000 ($A1.63 million), improved his season-best ATP
victory total to 64 and levelled his career mark with Sampras at 44. He
becomes only the second Australian to win the US Open crown since 1973,
following Pat Rafter.

Tribute from Sampras

Pete Sampras, who collected $US425,000, said the result reminded him of
when he was 19 and won his first grand slam title - at the US Open.


"The kid is so quick ... those legs ... I wish I had some of those legs."


"I lost to a great champion. You're going to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy
for the next ten years like you saw me.


"It was a good run, unfortunately I ran into a young guy who was a little
bit too good today."


Hewitt thanked the sponsors, his supporters, his girfriend and his coach.


"It's unbelievable, I dreamt of this moment, and being out here and playing
in a grand slam title ... it hasn't sunk in yet."


Hewitt won his 10th career title and by far his most important, becoming
the youngest US Open champion since Sampras won his first of four US Open
titles 11 years ago.


Tenth seed Sampras beat Hewitt 7-6 6-4 7-6 in last year's US Open
semi-finals, the Aussie's best prior Slam performance.


But Sampras, who turned 30 last month, saw his 14-month title drought reach
18 events.


Villain to hero


Fourth seed Hewitt won his fourth title of the year and went from villain
to hero in a week. He was hounded after remarks he made in a second-round
match were interpreted as racial insults by a black opponent.


Hewitt was down two sets to one to American wild card James Blake when he
complained about a black linesman calling him for foot faults.


But when he asked umpire Andreas Egli if he saw any "similarities", Blake
thought he meant the skin colour of player and linesman, not between how
Hewitt was being called on opposite ends of the court.


An uproar arose, but Hewitt apologised for the misunderstanding and was not
fined by the International Tennis Federation. Scattered booing has dogged
Hewitt ever since.


But Hewitt put aside the catcalls and the controversy, then fought through
a five-set quarter-final victory over 19-year-old American Andy Roddick and
inflicted the most lopsided semi-final rout in US Open history on Russian
seventh seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov.


Sampras sought his fifth US Open title in his 17th Grand Slam final. He has
not won any title since taking his record 13th Grand Slam title last year
at Wimbledon.

Sampras serve broken

Sampras had not been broken in 87 consecutive games dating to the second
set in the second round before Hewitt broke him in the match's first game.


Sampras saved a break point with an ace, but netted a forehand and watched
Hewitt hit a forehand passing winner to take the break.


Hewitt returned the favour quickly, squandering his first service game in a
Slam final on four points, missing on every first serve and handing over
the break with two double faults.


In the tie-breaker, Hewitt was four of the last five points, three on
errors by Sampras, the last of them a backhand volley beyond the baseline.


Easy second set


Hewitt dominated the second set, hitting 15 winners with only one unforced
error. Sampras hit 12 winners but made 11 unforced errors, including a
backhand volley past the baseline to surrender a break in the sixth game.


Sampras fought off two break points with an ace and a service winner to
hold in the second game of the second set, but the Aussie answered with a
series of tough backhand service returns and forced two netted backhand
volleys by Sampras to surrender a break in the fourth game.


By the third set, Sampras was shattered. Hewitt broke him in the first game
with a crosscourt backhand winner, broke again in in the fifth game and
ended it on his second match point with a backhand crosscourt winner after
one hour and 54 minutes.


Hewitt, who made only two unforced errors in the last set, fell onto his
back on the court and kicked his legs in joy.


With AAP.


PM praises win

                                                                           
 AAP (www.theage.com.au)                                                   
 Monday 10 September 2001                                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Prime Minister John Howard interrupted a high-powered barbecue to watch   
 the closing stages of Lleyton Hewitt's US Open tennis victory today.      
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Mr Howard was locked in conversation with US Vice-President Dick Cheney   
 and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before he ducked into the Australian
 ambassador's residence to watch the closing stages of the match with his  
 son, Tim, 23.                                                             
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Mr Howard was delighted with Hewitt's victory, which he said had come     
 against the odds in his match with US favourite Pete Sampras.             
                                                                           
                                                                           
 "It is absolutely fantastic this is a great achievement," Mr Howard told  
 reporters.                                                                
                                                                           
                                                                           
 "It was against the odds to beat Sampras at Flushing Meadows."            
 The 20-year-old Australian beat Sampras in straight sets to take his first
 grand slam title.                                                    
                                                                           


HEWITT DESTINED FOR GREATNESS

Hewitt's iron will sets him apart from his peers
Lleyton Hewitt won his first Grand Slam final with amazing ease on Sunday. BBC Sport Online's Nicolas Andrews looks at a young man who seems destined for greater things.
Australia has a new darling of tennis and his name is Lleyton Hewitt.

Hewitt beat the great Pete Sampras in three straight sets, in one of the most one-sided US Open finals seen in recent years.

The Australian, at the age of 20 and 10 years Sampras' junior, was in control from early in the first set and displayed a maturity on the court beyond his tender age.

Hewitt possesses a confidence, an intensity and an iron will that already sets him apart from his peers.

All his opponents felt this in what was a memorable campaign for Hewitt.

Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov was contemptuously swept aside by Hewitt in the semi-final.

Kafelnikov, who won only four games as Hewitt won the most one-sided US Open semi-final in 60 years, said: "I'm not the only one having trouble when I play him.

"Anything I tried, I was unable to come up with the goods.

"Every time I asked him a question, he had an answer. He was just too good."

This is a player who believes he has all the answers.

"I'm not a guy who needs to read motivation books," Hewitt said recently.

"I do now believe I can match it with any guy, any day, on any surface. So I have even more confidence."

His five-set epic against big-hitting American Taylor Dent at Wimbledon was typical of his never-say-die attitude and his ability to wear opponents down with his greater resolve.


For a set and a half, the Australian was blown off Centre Court by Dent's Wimbledon record-breaking 140mph serve.

But, after a rain break, Hewitt simply dug a bit deeper, having told himself that he would just have to find the passing shots.

He proceeded to do so with an almost frightening certainty down both lines.

Twice in that match Hewitt looked beaten - at the end of the first set and the end of the fourth.

But once Hewitt had got his head around the problem, both players really knew there was only going to be one winner.

At Flushing Meadows this past fortnight, Hewitt has won similar marathons against James Blake and Andy Roddick, a player with whom he looks set to enjoy a career-long rivalry.


Two of his three games at this year's Australian Open also went the maximum distance, as did his fourth-round Wimbledon defeat by Nicolas Escude.

Hewitt plays every match as though there is a war to be won, and his stomach for a fight shows no sign of abating.

Such passion and enthusiasm has won him many admirers on the circuit - he is compared with Connors and admired by McEnroe.

"I see a little of myself in Hewitt, only more so," McEnroe said recently.

But it is a confidence that has crossed the line into brashness and controversy more than once.

Hewitt made some unguarded and immature remarks about his home-town crowd in Adelaide earlier this year and he refuses to speak to the Australian press pack.

Psychological barriers

Last week he foolishly drew similarities between Blake, his black opponent, and a black line judge who foot-faulted him, leading some to brand him a racist - an allegation he denies.

Hewitt has not always been cool in the heat of his battles, and he still has some fences to mend with the folks back home.

But it is significant that it was Roddick who self-destructed in the fifth set this week as Hewitt ground him down for a place in the semi-finals.

And yet again in the final Sampras' game broke down as he was unable to cope with the consistency of the Hewitt serve and the fantastic cross-court returns.

The American had previously lost his past two US Open finals and three times out of four to the Australian.


The 2001 final may have been a historic moment when the legend Sampras handed over the baton to the leader of the new generation.

Sampras' recovery falls apart in U.S. Open final
By HAL BOCK
.c The Associated Press
 
NEW YORK (AP) - Pete Sampras will have to wait a while longer for that 14th
Grand Slam title.

The record-holder with 13 of those championships, spent most of the past two
weeks at the U.S. Open repairing a tattered tennis reputation. On Sunday, he
surrounded the recovery with question marks.

For the second straight year, a 20-year-old young gun spoiled Sampras' bid
for a Slam championship. A year ago, Marat Safin started Sampras' tumble into
mediocrity, beating him in the finals of the Open. On Sunday, Lleyton Hewitt
punctuated it with a 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1 victory.

The loss to Safin started a drought of 17 tournaments without a title for
Sampras. He went 14 months without a victory and arrived at the Open seeded
10th, remarkably low for a player of his reputation.

Sampras was angered by the whispers, the suggestion that at age 30, he was on
the downside of a remarkable career. He set out to change that perception and
for two weeks, he accomplished the mission.

There were victories over past champions Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi and
Safin, each with the feel of a final, in a magical week that put Sampras on
verge of winning his fifth Open.

And then, suddenly, on the 11th anniversary of his first Grand Slam victory
at the Open, it all came apart.

The day started badly when Hewitt broke Sampras in the first game of the
match, ending a string of 87 games in which he had not been broken. Sampras
balanced it immediately but the message had been sent.

Sampras seemed a step slow as he traded shots with the Australian. He mis-hit
more balls in this match than he had all week. The set rolled into a
tiebreak, familiar territory for Sampras, who played four of them in his
classic quarterfinal victory over Agassi.

But Sampras was shaken by an overrule by chair umpire Norm Cryst that gave
Hewitt a critical point. He lost the tiebreak 7-4 and was in a free fall
after that.

Sampras was repeatedly missing volleys. His serve, perhaps the most potent in
tennis, kept coming back at him and his returns kept catching the net.

Hewitt seized control, playing textbook tennis with few unforced errors, no
opportunities for Sampras to fight his way back into the match.

Sampras won just two games after losing that first-set tiebreak and was
finished on three sets, the same way he was a year ago against Safin, when
all this trouble began.

AP-NY-09-09-01 1845EDT


Hewitt wallops Sampras to lift U.S. Open crown
By Larry Fine

NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Twenty-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt played
near-perfect tennis to rout four-times Open champion Pete Sampras 7-6 6-1 6-1
on Sunday and lift the U.S. Open crown.

The victory was the first Grand Slam title of his career.

The fourth-seeded Hewitt made Sampras look ordinary on Arthur Ashe Stadium as
he raced around the center court to retrieve whatever the 30-year-old
American had to offer.

"It's unbelievable," said Hewitt after receiving the winner's prize of
$850,000.

"I've dreamt of this moment, being out here and playing in a Grand Slam
final."

Hewitt, unerring with his cracking two-fisted backhand, made only three
unforced errors over the last two sets as he left Sampras dazed at the net
with the ferocity of his passing shots and dumbfounded at the service line
with his dazzling returns.

The lightning-quick Hewitt whipped a backhand crosscourt service return
winner to end the stunningly one-sided final in one hour, 54 minutes.

Hewitt dropped flat on his back after firing home the winning point.

SEIZE THE CROWN
"He was unbelievable," Sampras said during the awards ceremony. "The kid is
so quick it's unbelievable. Those legs... I wish I had some of those legs for
this old guy."

It was the second straight year that Sampras lost the final to a 20-year-old
foe who made the Grand Slam king suddenly look his age.

Last year, Russian Marat Safin ripped by Sampras in straight sets to seize
the crown.

The defeat to Hewitt ended a record-tying run of eight years in a row with at
least one Grand Slam victory for Sampras. Sampras had won a Slam in every
year since 1992 to tie a mark held by Bjorn Borg.

"I lost to a great champion," Sampras told the crowd of 23,960. "You're going
to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy for the next 10 years like you saw me.

"It was a good run... unfortunately I ran into a young guy who was a little
too good today."

Sampras collected $425,000 as runner-up.

The Australian beat Sampras, winner of a record 13 career Grand Slam titles,
on the 11th anniversary of the American's first major victory in the 1990
U.S. Open.

"I don't know what I can say," said Hewitt. "I got a bit lucky out there. I
got better with every match I played in the last two weeks. It's a real dream
come true."

19:12 09-09-01


Hewitt routs Sampras to win first U.S. Open title
By Joe Carnicelli
SportsTicker
 
FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Lleyton Hewitt, a 20-year-old Australian
playing in his first Grand Slam final, turned in a brilliant performance
Sunday to crush four-time winner Pete Sampras, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1, and win
the U.S. Open. 

Hewitt put an end to Sampras' remarkable revival tournament and denied him
the opportunity to stretch his record for Grand Slams to 14 and tie Hall of
Famer Jimmy Connors' Open Era record of five U.S. Open titles. 

Sampras, who lost in the final for the second consecutive year, also could
have set a record by winning at least one Grand Slam event in nine
consecutive years.  He will share the mark with another Hall of Famer, Bjorn
Borg. 

Hewitt, seeded fourth, became the youngest player to win the Open since a
19-year-old Sampras did it exactly 11 years ago. He did it by sending Sampras
to a humiliating straight-sets loss in the U.S. Open final for the second
straight year. 

Hewitt's victory was his third in a row over Sampras, two on hard courts and
another on grass.  He earned $850,000 while Sampras took home $425,000. 

Sampras put together a record-setting run to the final, becoming the first
player in U.S. Open history to beat three former champions.  But just as he
did last year in being hammered by Marat Safin of Russia, Sampras looked slow
and confused. 

Hewitt ended it in one hour, 54 minutes with a backhand crosscourt pass that
zipped past Sampras, who hurt himself with 38 unforced errors. 

Hewitt, a 5-10, 150-pound blend of speed and power, lost a bitterly contested
semifinal to Sampras at last year's Open but felt he learned from his
mistakes. Apparently he did as he totally frustrated Sampras with his ability
to return serve and drill passing shots. 

Sampras had gone 87 consecutive games without having his serve broken but
Hewitt broke him in the first game of the match and it proved to be an omen.
Sampras managed to break right back and they went to a tiebreaker, but Hewitt
once again proved to be the superior player. 

With Sampras serving at 3-4, Hewitt fired a backhand passing shot up the line
for a winner.  Hewitt closed it out when Sampras put a volley into the net. 

Hewitt dominated the second set, breaking Sampras on two of his three service
games and winning in just 34 minutes.  He hit 15 winners against one unforced
error while Sampras had 12 and 11. 

In the third set, Hewitt continued to dominate as he fired two great passing
shots to break Sampras in the opening game.  He applied the crusher by
breaking again for a 4-1 lead and the end came on another break, Hewitt's
sixth of the match. 

Despite his historic achievements, Sampras began the U.S. Open two weeks ago
as a long shot. He had not won a tournament since the 2000 Wimbledon
Championship, was losing to journeymen and his ranking slipped to 10th in the
world. 

His No. 10 seeding at the Open was his lowest since 1990, when he won his
first Open after being seeded 12th. Many in the tennis world hinted that
perhaps Sampras might do well to consider retirement. 

But that all changed in one incredible second week, as Sampras defeated
two-time champion Patrick Rafter, two-time champion Andre Agassi and
defending champion Marat Safin, avenging last year's loss in the final. 

Hewitt advanced to his first Grand Slam final by annihilating seventh seed
Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, in 63 minutes.  It was the worst
semifinal beating in U.S. Open history. 

Hewitt is the third Australian player to win the U.S. Open in the last five
years. Rafter won in 1997 and 1998, defeating fellow Aussie Mark
Philippoussis for the 1998 title. Hewitt is also the first player since
Agassi in 1989-1990 to lose in the semifinals and come back the following
year to reach the final. 

It was Sampras' fourth Grand Slam final loss.  He also was beaten by Stefan
Edberg in the 1992 U.S. Open and by Agassi in the 1995 Australian Open.