Hewitt given scare
28may01

PARIS: Unheralded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu made it tough for Lleyton
Hewitt in his opening match of the French Open here today at Roland Garros.
Mathieu, a wildcard entry, went down to the No.6-seeded Hewitt in four
sets, but not before giving the Australian a scare.
After almost 3-1/2 hours, Hewitt prevailed, 7-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 before a
parochial crowd on the Suzanne Lenglen court.
For Hewitt, there can't have been many times in his short career that the
20-year-old has been stretched this much by an opponent younger than him.
It may also have been off-putting for him that playing Mathieu was like
looking in the mirror, in more ways than one.
Both young turks played with a white baseball cap on backwards, which, with
their similar wiry features, made it hard to distinguish between them. Once
Hewitt switched from a black to a white shirt after the first set it became
still tougher, with only a shade of darkness in their shorts to separate
them.
But more than that, Hewitt would have recognised plenty from himself in
Mathieu's game, particularly the confidence from the baseline and the sheer
tenacity.
There was also the raw precociousness which allowed Mathieu to step onto
Roland Garros's second court, the Suzanne Lenglen arena, to play his first
match in a grand slam as if he'd been doing it for years.
Mathieu, with earnings of just $US47,760 ($92,290) to his name, was on the
attack from the outset, breaking the South Australian in the fourth game to
help set up a 4-1 lead.
Hewitt recovered to break back for 3-4 and later squeezed out of two set
points at 5-6 to send the set into a tiebreak, where his greater experience
showed in a 7-2 romp which ended a lengthy 63-minute set.
But again the Hewitt comparisons didn't end there for Mathieu, who came out
to break Hewitt in the first game of the second set.
With increasing errors from Hewitt, Mathieu carried his lead to 5-3, where
he wasted two set points against Hewitt's serve.
He racked up two more on serve in the next game, but two bad errors let
Hewitt back in. The Australian had two break point chances to get back to
5-5, but Mathieu lifted to fight out of both, and finally earned himself
another set point, which he converted with a backhand winner.
That set had again taken more than an hour and, though the physical strain
wasn't showing on Hewitt, the mental pressure of this potential upset was.
His first two contributions to the third set were double faults and, after
a lengthy dispute with chair umpire Carlos Ramos on break point, he
conceded his opening service game.
At 2-0 down and serving at 15-15, Hewitt boiled over again, earning an
unsportsmanlike conduct warning for yelling at the the net cord judge, who
had been overruled: "Mate, you are a spastic."
The release of pressure, unseemly though it was, seemed to spur Hewitt. Not
only did he hold serve, he broke Mathieu's next two service games in a
five-game streak which enabled him to take the third set.
Mathieu was tiring after three hours' play in the steamy conditions, and it
was telling that after being broken for the first time in the fourth set to
trail 3-2, he required treatment for tired legs.
There was no way back for Mathieu, but he won plenty of admirers today.

Hewitt tipped to end Paris drought

By LINDA PEARCE

PARIS, Monday 28 May 2001

Australia has produced a US Open champion, and Wimbledon and Australian
Open finalists, in the past dozen years, but the last time it boasted a
singles player on the last weekend at Roland Garros was back in 1969 when
Rod Laver prevailed over Ken Rosewall in an all-Australian final.
Yet Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald believes that may be about to change.
He rates Lleyton Hewitt, seeded sixth when the French Open starts today, as
this country's best prospect for the title in more than a decade.
"It's absolutely fair to say that he has as good a chance as any Australian
has had in the last 10 or 15 years," Fitzgerald said. "I certainly believe
he can win, but to win a major you've got to beat everyone, not just one
guy in a final.
"You've got to get there and it just depends on how long some of his
earlier matches are and whether he can get through the first week
relatively unscathed and build up all his energy for the second week to
have something in reserve. Look, I think he's a realistic chance."
Hewitt is one of five Australian men in the main draw, and one of three to
play today. His first opponent is 18-year-old French wildcard Paul-Henri
Mathieu, last year's junior champion, yet Hewitt may have to beat Juan
Carlos Ferrero and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten in successive rounds
to reach the final, and that is a challenge as formidable as most he has
faced in his eventful career so far.
The greatest, perhaps, was in last month's Davis Cup tie in Brazil, and yet
Hewitt made just nine unforced errors in the 164 minutes it took to stun
Kuerten on his home dirt and confirm Australia's 3-1 victory.
"He just continues to amaze everybody," said Fitzgerald. "You sort of
suspect that he can do it, but actually being able to beat that guy down
there was just outstanding.
"Even apart from the self belief, he competes so well that he puts himself
in the position to take advantage of any chances he gets to beat great
players like Kuerten.
"He always competes, so he's never going to go out there and let the other
guy steamroll him; he's going to make the other guy beat him every time,
doesn't matter who it is. So if you have that attitude, a lot of
opportunities pop up."
Fitzgerald said he did not expect Hewitt's continuing, unsolved, breathing
difficulties to hinder his quest to win seven matches in two weeks and,
even with Mark Philippoussis still missing after knee surgery, Pat Rafter's
seeding at No.8 means Australia is in the rare situation of having two
players seeded to reach the quarter-finals.
Rafter, who withdrew from the World Team Cup final in Dusseldorf due to
continuing inflammation of his right elbow, meets Davis Cup teammate Wayne
Arthurs in the first round tomorrow.
Yesterday, Rafter's sore elbow forced him to withdraw from a scheduled
practice session with fellow Australian Scott Draper.
Wildcard Draper today faces American Andy Roddick, while Andrew Ilie, who
has reached the third round here three times, is up against 14th seed
Thomas Enqvist.
Among the women, Victorian teenager Christina Wheeler's loss in the final
qualifying round leaves Nicole Pratt, Rachel McQuillan, Evie Dominikovic
and Alicia Molik as Australia's four representatives.
Jelena Dokic, now of Yugoslavia, was seeded 15th after injuries claimed
former champions Mary Pierce and Monica Seles.

Hewitt boils but not on boil

By LEO SCHLINK

29 may 01

PARIS: Lleyton Hewitt last night overcame inspired French teenager
Paul-Henri Mathieu and his own frustrations to survive a first-round fright
in the French Open at Roland Garros.

Desperate for quick matches this week to conserve energy, sixth seed Hewitt
was detained for three hours and 30 minutes before scrambling to a 7-6
(7-2) 4-6 6-3 6-2 win over 243rd-ranked Mathieu, who was playing his first
grand slam match after claiming the junior singles title last year.
Savagely determined to become the first Australian male since Queenslander
Rod Laver in 1969 to triumph in Paris, Hewitt could hardly have expected a
tougher match as temperatures soared under cloudless skies on the Suzanne
Lenglen court.
The first set lasted 63 minutes, the second stretched four minutes longer
as Hewitt was pushed to the brink by Mathieu, whose fitness eventually gave
out in the conditions when he succumbed to cramps in his right thigh in the
fourth set.
A relieved Hewitt will next play either veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkmn or
Russian qualifier Nikolay Davydenko.
Hewitt's frustrations ran high in the still heat, first prompting the South
Australian to chastise chair umpire Carlos Ramos after the official told
Hewitt to calm down during the changeover after the seventh game in the
second set.
"Get stuffed, get stuffed mate," Hewitt responded. "You're a pigeon
umpire."
With his cap on backwards, double-fisted backhand and loud cries of
"C'mon", Mathieu mirrored much of Hewitt's combative style, but lacked the
stamina to back it up.
Mathieu led the first set 4-2 and might well have nailed it if not for
Hewitt's trademark persistence and his own inexperience.
But once the contest intensified in the tiebreak, Hewitt surged away ? but
he was still struggling on serve and for accuracy with his usually lethal
groundstrokes.
Mathieu quickly regained the upper hand in the first game of the second set
and held sway on serve in a pulsating battle of forehands.
The Adelaide baseliner saved two set points against his serve in the ninth
game as Matheiu closed in for the kill, but was driven to lashing himself
verbally when his opponent unleashed a screaming forehand winner.
"You don't want to be here, mate," he said. "You're just frigging around."
His disposition was hardly helped when he twice failed to convert break
points for 5-5 and dived at full stretch to net a volley, leaving his white
T-shirt caked in clay.
Mathieu squared the ledger and, having doused himself in water to cool off,
gave the first sign of losing focus by walking to the wrong end of the
court before Hewitt gently invited his opponent to switch ends.
But, as has become a suicidal habit, Hewitt delivered two double faults to
open the door in the first game of the third set and eventually dropped
serve with a wayward forehand.
"At the start of every set, idiot," Hewitt castigated himself again turning
on Ramos for a missed line call.
"Go and have a look then, it's not my job."
Dreading long contests in the first week, Hewitt turned towards a clock
which showed the contest had been going two hours when he broke back for
2-2.
Increasingly anguished, he was tormented as much by his own quest for
perfection as stubborn Mathieu's resistance.
"God, I hate you man, you're useless," Hewitt screamed after netting a
forehand. "Why don't you listen to anyone?"
And then after winning the next point: "Come on, mate, fight this son of a
bitch."
Hewitt's mood began to lift in the following game when he ripped a forehand
around the net post before breaking serve and then winning his fifth game
in succession as Mathieu first called for trainer Bill Norris.
Hewitt sealed a terminal break in the fifth game of the fourth set when
Mathieu netted a backhand before escaping with a tense win as his main
rivals eased to comfortable successes.

Hewitt sets up a shot at history
By LEO SCHLINK
28may01

THE smart money suggests it; his peers predict it and those closest to Lleyton Hewitt fervently believe it, but Hewitt does not fully agree he can become the first Australian man to win the French Open since Rod Laver in 1969.

Hewitt is a wary dissenter, refusing to accept that he is anything more than an outside chance to become the 10th Australian to win the title.

"I'm definitely not the favourite, that's for sure," said the South Australian, only one of two players with Spanish wizard Juan-Carlos Ferrero to have beaten defending champion Gustavo Kuerten on clay this year.

"I haven't been there in the finals of a grand slam yet, and I have no doubt `Guga' (Kuerten) is the No. 1 favourite.

"If Ferrero is OK and he keeps playing the way he has, he's got to be up there as well, and you can't count out guys like (Marat) Safin, who's won a grand slam.

"And then there's guys like Andre Agassi, who's won so many times, even guys like (Yevgeny) Kafelnikov, Pat Rafter, these guys who have been there on the final weekend of a grand slam.

"You look at those guys, then Ferrero, and then there's a fair gap to me."

Yet Hewitt yesterday declared his 6-3 6-4 thumping of world No. 2 and US Open champion Safin at the World Team Cup final in Dusseldorf was "the best match I've played since I played `Guga' ".

"I think I can give it a shake if I play as well as I did against Marat," Hewitt said.

"I've given myself the best possible chance. I believe in myself and I believe I can win every time I step on to the court."

Hewitt last season reached the fourth round at Roland Garros before losing to Spaniard Albert Costa. The previous year, the Adelaide baseliner fell at the first hurdle to Argentine Martin Rodriguez.

But his startling progress has Hewitt bidding to join a select group of Australians -- including Jack Crawford, Ken Rosewall, Fred Stolle, Roy Emerson, Merv Rose, Tony Roche and Laver -- able to master European clay.

No player can have ever controlled Kuerten on clay in the way Hewitt did in Florianopolis in May.

The issue for the 20-year-old is the need to reproduce the stunning Davis Cup form in seven best-of-five-sets matches over two weeks.

"That's the hard part," Hewitt said.

"And it's also so hard to win on clay because it is such a grinding surface. To put seven tough matches together in a row against so-called claycourt specialists is a big ask.

"With the way the rankings are now, you could run into (Marcelo) Rios or Carlos Moya, who's won it before, in the first round.

"The thing I like about clay is that it's such a grinding surface. There's nowhere to hide out there, which suits my personality."

Hewitt will open his campaign against talented French teenager Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Cautious and deliberately understated off-court, Hewitt will have no shortage of advice from men such as Roche and Rafter if he is forge deep into the second week.

"Obviously, it's a long way to go before I'll be getting that opportunity to be there on the final Sunday of the French Open," he said. "But I give myself an outside chance.

"I feel I can go on the court with any player and feel confident, especially if I play the way I did in Brazil.

"I didn't play any claycourt events growing up in Adelaide, so it's taken me a while to learn how to play on it, and I'm still doing that.

"If I play well, there's a slight chance I could be there on the weekend. I believe in my game and I feel more and more comfortable on clay.

"In the past, I wasn't quite sure of my footing, of when to attack and not to attack. Now I've got a better idea of when to defend and I mix up my serve a lot better these days."

Hewitt ended a two-match losing sequence on clay during the World Team Cup by throttling last year's finalist Magnus Norman.

The Swede immediately deemed Hewitt to be one of the pre-eminent chances in a field containing probably 20 title contenders.

Hewitt has played three tournaments after a two-week break to recover from chronic sinus problems and gained confidence from advancing to the semi-finals in Hamburg.

"I feel as though I've stepped up this week, and I needed to," Hewitt said.

"It's taken me a while to get going again and there are some things I still need to work on, the lapses in concentration.

"I need luck with the draw and the weather and get myself into the second week.

"If I can do that, I've definitely got a chance."

Hewitt plays down hopes of winning French title
Leo Schlink, in Paris
28may01

THE smart money suggests it, his peers predict it and those closest to Lleyton Hewitt fervently believe it, but Hewitt does not fully agree he can become the first Australian man to win the French Open since Rod Laver in 1969.

Hewitt is a wary dissenter, refusing to accept he is anything more than an outside chance to become the 10th Australian to lift the Musketeer Coupe.

"I'm not the favourite, that's for sure," said the South Australian, only one of two players along with Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero to beat defending champion Gustavo Kuerten on clay this year.

"I haven't been there in the finals of a Grand Slam yet, and I have no doubt Guga (Kuerten) is the favourite.

"If Ferrero is okay and he keeps playing the way he has, he's got to be up there as well, and you can't count out guys like (Marat) Safin, who's won a Grand Slam.

"And then there's guys like Andre Agassi, who's won so many times, even guys like (Yevgeny) Kafelnikov, Pat Rafter, these guys who have been there on the final weekend of a Grand Slam.

"You look at those guys, then Ferrero and then there's a fair gap to me."

Yet Hewitt yesterday declared his 6-3, 6-4 thumping of world No. 2 and US Open champion Safin at the Arag World Team Cup final in Dusseldorf was "the best match I've played since I played Guga".

Scott Draper lost 6-2, 6-4 to Kafelnikov in his place but the Aussies won the event for the third time thanks to Hewitt's superb win and Draper and Wayne Arthurs' doubles success over Kafelnikov and Safin, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 6-4.

"I think I can give it a shake if I play as well as I did against Marat," Hewitt allowed. "I've given myself the best possible chance. I believe in myself and I believe I can win every time I step on to the court."

Hewitt last season reached the fourth round at Roland Garros before losing a treacherous fourth-round affair to Spaniard Albert Costa. The previous year, the Adelaide baseliner fell at the first hurdle to Argentine Martin Rodriguez.

But his startling progress since has Hewitt bidding to join a select group of Australians ¨C including Jack Crawford, Ken Rosewall, Fred Stolle, Roy Emerson, Merv Rose, Tony Roche and Laver ¨C able to master the nuances of European clay.

No player can have ever controlled Kuerten on clay in the way Hewitt did in Florianopolis.

But the issue now for the 20-year-old is the need to reproduce the form in seven best-of-five matches spread over two weeks.

"That's the hard part," said Hewitt. "And it's also so hard to win on clay because it is such a grinding surface. To put seven tough matches together in a row against so-called claycourt specialists is a big ask.

"With the way the rankings are now, you could run into (Marcelo) Rios or Carlos Moya, who's won it before, in the first round. The thing I like about clay is that it's such a grinding surface. There's nowhere to hide out there, which suits my personality."

Hewitt will open his campaign against talented French teenager Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Hewitt to roll back the years for Aussies
Paris, France, May 27 2001Hewitt looking to put Australia back on the map in France

Jack Crawford showed the world that Australians can mix it with the best on clay by setting the ball rolling with his French Open crown in 1933 and Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, Tony Roche and Fred Stolle dominated the men's event at Roland Garros in the 1960s.

And then the Aussies disappeared almost as fast they had arrived.

Since Laver beat Rosewall in the 1969 final the men from Down Under have stayed pretty much down under, at least in terms of their status within the claycourt hierarchy.

But Lleyton Hewitt doesn't care much for hierarchies.

Hewitt, who won his first career tournament as a 16-year-old in Adelaide, has been honing his clay game with a passion this season and the hard work paid dividends with a run to the semi-finals in the Hamburg Masters Series, where he finally succumbed to eventual title-winner Albert Portas of Spain.

But it was a month earlier that Hewitt really made his rivals sit up and take notice of his capabilities when he handed French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten his first defeat on clay for a year in a Davis Cup quarter-final in the Brazilian's own back yard.

That backs to the wall situation represented the kind of challenge on which Hewitt, weaned on the tough world of Aussie rules football, thrives.

And he hopes to beat Kuerten to the winners post at Roland Garros before too long - having already muscled his way into the list of favourites.

"I feel like I am getting better and better - and more confidence," says Hewitt, who says clay now feels a lot more manageable a surface.

"It's definitely up there. After Brazil it was my favourite' he jokes.

Hewitt remains cautious when asked about his Roland Garros chances.

"I haven't been there in the final of a Grand Slam yet. I am definitely not the favourite, that is for sure. There is no doubt that Guga is the number one favourite. But I give myself an outside chance for sure."

After his impressive run to the Hamburg semi-final Hewitt's experience is proving a little like Samson in reverse, as last month he had his trademark ponytail chopped off - with the apparent blessing of Belgian girlfriend Kim Clijsters.

In biblical folklore Samson drew his great strength from his long hair and losing his locks left him utterly diminished - but Hewitt's shorn look has clearly done nothing to weaken him.END

Courier tips Hewitt

By LEO SCHLINK

26 May 01

Daily Telegraph

DUSSELDORF: Former world No.1 Jim Courier believes Lleyton Hewitt is poised to crash through the grand slam barrier over the next fortnight and win the French Open.
The winner of two French Open and two Australian Open titles, as well as also being runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open, Courier said there were striking parallels between his emergence in 1991 and Hewitt's progress a decade later.
Courier, who retired last season, was 20 when he first lifted the Musketeer's Cup. He now contends 20-year-old Hewitt, ranked sixth in the world, can do the same at Roland Garros.
"Yes, I feel like he's ready to step forward and win a big one," Courier said. "He's been steadily improving from where I sit. I feel like he is not afraid to win a big one, which can't be said for everyone.
"Looking at his ability to rise to the big occasion in Davis Cup tells me that he is a big-match player.
"Paris may be tough on him physically, depending on his current condition regarding the breathing. I haven't heard any recent news on that. If he gets a good draw and doesn't expend too much energy early, he will be tough in the latter stages.
"His form in Hamburg and wins in Brazil (Davis Cup) should give him plenty of swagger – which he is usually pretty good on anyway – in Paris.
"He has not overplayed, but he has enough wins in his body and brain to get him there peaking."
Courier reached three consecutive French finals, downing Andre Agassi and Petr Korda in 1991-92 before falling to Sergi Bruguera the following season.
A rugged, ferocious competitor, Courier was never backward in attacking his opponents – a trait Hewitt has embraced.
Courier's lead-up form in '92-93 was outstanding, as evidenced by successive triumphs in the Italian Open.
But the tough American is unconcerned over Hewitt's brief preparation, which was highlighted by a semi-final appearance in Hamburg last week.
"I do think one needs to have played well leading into Paris, but there is a fine line between well and too much," Courier said.
"Winning everything, as Juan Carlos Ferrero has this year, can sometimes be a curse as you can peak too soon and be mentally and physically fatigued.
"He's now hurt, so he's in trouble and he's got to try to freshen up.
"About the only guy that form means little to is Andre (Agassi). He can find his form in a hamburger . . . I am jealous of that for the record."
Courier believes there is a core of emerging players who could challenge the established order in Paris.
"The bolter could be Andy Roddick," Courier said. "He'll be be fun to watch, as will Guillermo Coria. They are two teens who have been in good form leading in."


CASH ON CONTENDERS

sportal.com.au, 26 May 2001

Pat Cash is backing Gustavo Kuerten to succeed for a second year running at the French Open – unless young Australian ace Lleyton Hewitt can stop him.
Cash, who was the previous darling of Australian tennis, has backed Hewitt, to go that extra yard and compete seriously for a Grand Slam title.
Cash said: “He is improving all the time and he isn’t very far away from getting into his first Grand Slam final. He needs to go just that little bit further to show he can really be something.”
And while he rates Kuerten he fears that he may be the traditional early season burn out. He said: “There’s always some guy who storms out of the traps at the beginning of the clay court season, and then falters in form just before the big one.
“Kuerten started really well – and there’s no doubting he’s a class player – but he could just be the guy who has burnt himself out.”
A fully fit Juan Carlos Ferrero would also gain the Cash seal of approval. He revealed: “Before the injury I would have rated him as the man most likely; now I don’t know.”
And the Aussie, once ranked as the world number eight, is unconvinced by Andre Agassi’s claims, despite the fact he captured the title as recently as 1999 and has won this year’s only Grand Slam.
He said: “You should never completely write Andre off, but I don’t think this will be his year again. I think he will find it hard work in the latter stages.”
Cash, who now runs an exciting new coaching academy, did offer a crumb of comfort for the Brits, despite their natural aversion to clay.
He said: “Tim Henman has a good all-round game and if it is a really hot tournament he has an outside chance. If the courts are baked solid and the game speeds up, then Tim could surprise a few people. Yet if it is overcast and the courts slow down I don’t think he’ll make it all the way.”
Turning to his former charge and Britain’s number two, he said: “It’s not going to be Greg’s best chance to do well this year. Clay is not his surface. He’s had a few poor results of late, but he would kind of expect that going into the clay season. He’s not going to do well on clay.”
Despite strong claims from the French local favourites, Cash was not convinced by the challenge of either Sebastien Grosjean or Arnaud Clement.
He said: “They both did well in Australia, but despite this being their home Grand Slam I can’t see them doing it. The problem is that they are not big hitters. I think they’ll win a few matches, but that will be it.”
Looking across the draw for dark horses who could upset the leading pack, Cash said: “It is a tournament with a history of plucking a name out of the blue and I wouldn’t be surprised if another new name was added to the Grand Slam winners list. Maybe Alex Corretja and Magnus Norman will cause a stir?”