Lleyton the Lionheart
by Scott Spits
Monday, June 4, 2001
It took four hours and 12 minutes, five match points and spanned two days but Australian No6 seed Lleyton Hewitt finally advanced to the quarter finals after defeating Argentine Guillermo Canas in a classic five set match on Monday.

With nightfall descending on Roland Garros late Sunday, the match was suspended with Hewitt leading 4-2 in the final set. But in contrasting conditions today - warm sunshine and barely a cloud in the sky - the Australian took another 19 minutes to wrap up the match after losing the first two sets to the dangerous Argentine.

In the process, Hewitt achieved a career first. Never before had the tenacious 20-year-old recovered from being two sets down to win a five set match. If it's a time for firsts, will Hewitt win his first Grand Slam event on Sunday?

He now confronts Spaniard No4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero - one of the pre-tournament favorites and a player in red-hot touch. "He's in dynamite form," Hewitt said. "He's not a big guy, but he hits the ball hard. Especially at the moment, he's got his confidence going. I think he feels like he's just about unbeatable out there."

As for his own chances of becoming the first Australian to win the French Open since the legendary Rod Laver in 1969, Hewitt said he's starting to feel more comfortable on clay but is "struggling through" his matches.

So much was evident against Canas as Hewitt slumped to a two-sets-to-love deficit. Canas defeated Brit No11 seed Tim Henman in the third round and it seemed the Argentine was destined to be the giantkiller of the men's draw.

Hewitt can now look forward to his clash with Ferrero on the back of a good preparation. He advanced to the fourth round after exciting American teen Andy Roddick withdrew during their third round clash. Perhaps a gruelling five set match was exactly what he needed.

The Australian turned his game around completely after being plagued by mistakes during the first two sets. Even during the second set tiebreak, the Australian didn't look comfortable and an upset looked probable. Hewitt committed 87 unforced errors for the match, compared to just 65 for Canas.

Hewitt broke the Argentine in the first game on Monday and, strangely, was serving for the match at 5-2 on his first service game. The Australian even reached 40-0 but Canas somehow recovered and broke Hewitt. "It was a weird feeling," Hewitt said of the situation where he was serving for the match after only a few minutes on court in warm conditions.

Eventually, at 5-3 on Canas' serve and on Hewitt's fifth match point, he closed it out and gave a distinctive pump of the fist to his entourage in the stands.


Hewitt sets up quarter-final showdown with Ferrero


Lleyton Hewitt marched into the quarter-finals of the French Open - in a fashion which marked him down as a serious contender for his first Grand Slam title.
He took just three games to complete a 3-6 6-7 6-2 6-3 6-3 marathon victory over Argentina's Guillermo Canas.

The stormy match, which lasted four hours and 12 minutes, had been suspended last night in the Paris gloom with Hewitt leading 4-2 in the final set.

The 20-year-old Aussie, however, was in no mood to hang around when the match resumed and he promptly dispatched Canas, the third round conqueror of Britain's Tim Henman.

Hewitt now faces Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-finals and is bidding to become the first Australian man to win the singles at Roland Garros since the legendary Rod Laver back in 1969 - the year he won tennis' Grand Slam.

"I give myself an outside chance," said Hewitt. "But there are some tough matches coming up. Ferrero is in dynamite form and with Kuerten they must be the best players on clay in the world."

Hewitt could have ended his match against Canas even earlier, having squandered a couple of match points.

"I just didn't play aggressive on those points," said Hewitt. "I know this was a big match for him. He had beaten Tim Henman in five sets and I knew it was going to be tough. I had to dig deep but I played pretty solid and it was nice to go up two breaks. I'm just glad to get through."

Hewitt has proved himself on all surfaces and the manner of his triumph, especially last night when the packed crowd turned this elegant part of Paris into something resembling Flushing Meadow's New York bear pit, was typically rumbustious.

"I have to play in Australia on grass, in the Davis Cup on clay and I have won titles now on all surfaces and I have beaten Gustavo Kuerten on clay in his own backyard in Brazil," said Hewitt.

"I feel confident in all the big matches now."

 

Roddick Forced to Retire Against Hewitt

by Matthew Cronin, rolandgarros.com

Friday, June 1, 2001

In a sad ending to what was shaping up to be the most hotly contested match of the tournament, red hot American teen Andy Roddick strained a hamstring in his left leg and was forced to retire down 7-6(6) 4-6 2-2 to Aussie Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of Roland Garros on Friday.

In the last game of the third set, Roddick slipped on a tarp while running wide for a forehand and appeared to tear a muscle in his left leg. He continued to try to play a few more points, but with his coach Tariq Benhabiles wildly signaling from the Friend's Box for him to quit, Roddick tearfully conceded the match.

"I wish we could of finished. I was having a lot of fun," said Roddick, who added that he expects the injury to heal by next week. "It wasn't fun but it took a while to regain composure after the match and I didn't want to go out like that. But it happens, it's part of the game and I have to bite the bullet and accept it."

Hewitt added, "It's always hard for it to end that way. That's not how you want to get over the line against someone. But I'm happy to be out of there in two and a half sets. It's too bad because there was such a build up to the match -- two young guys for a spot in the round of 16. But we have plenty of big matches ahead of us."

Both players fought like rabid dogs in the two hours and 15 minutes that they played, with Roddick fighting off seven set points in the first set behind his bludgeoning forehand, and Hewitt clawing his way into the second set by serving an amazing 17 aces and yanking his opponent side to side like a lopsided puppet.

"We were battling, it was great tennis, a lot of good points, two personalities - it's too bad," Roddick said.

The two wiry and animated kids fist-pumped, barked and tore the cover off the balls in end-to-end rallies. They showed off a variety of strokes, including deft drop shots, sharply angled short crosscourt hoppers and lob volleys.

"He' s got a great all-court game, a big serve, big forehand, consistent backhand, moves pretty well for a tall guy, he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses," Hewitt said of Roddick, who had entered the match on a 12-match winning streak.

"Experience is the only thing he lacks, but he's already had great results." Hewitt returned Roddick's vaunted serve as well as any man has, while Roddick showed the Aussie at times that he could hit through him from the back court.

"Returning serve is one of the better parts of my game," Hewitt said. "He serves big but I felt like I was in most of his service games and felt like I was on his second serve." Hewitt will face Argentine Guillermo Canas in the fourth round and said that the only thing that is keeping him from advancing deep into Grand Slams is his young age.

"It's only experience," the No6 seed said. "Playing maybe seven five-set matches is tough when you're young. Reaching the U.S. Open semis last year against Sampras and having some chances taught me a lot. The next time I'm in that situation I'll be a better player."

Hewitt is confident about Open road ahead
by Linda Pearce in Paris

One moment Lleyton Hewitt is talking about what he might do at the French Open in another two or three years, when his claycourt game has fully developed. The next, he is suggesting that if he can string together seven consecutive matches of the type he has played intermittently during the past two months, his time may be now.

He nominated the defeat of Gustavo Kuerten in the Davis Cup quarter-final in Brazil, the success against Tommy Haas in Rome, and the one against Franco Squillari in Hamburg and not forgetting last Saturday's straight-sets defeat of Marat Safin in the final of the World Team Cup.

"If I can put those together for another six matches, then I'm going to be hard to beat," he said.

No mention of his first-round struggle against French wildcard Paul-Henri Mathieu in Monday's first fixture on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but that was not a match he will remember quite so fondly. It was a win, and a long one, the 7-6 (6-2) 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory taking more than 3 hours, but at least he got through to face Russian qualifier Nikolay Davydenko for a place in the third round.

"No time to press the panic button, I don't think," Hewitt said when asked whether he expected his form to improve. "Sport - you have your good days, you have your bad days. The good players, when they have their bad days, find a way to get out of it. That's what I did. You know, if I'm not playing great, I've got to go back to my basics, go back to my strengths, just dig deep.''

At one point during the match in steamy conditions, Hewitt was warned by the umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct after calling the net cord judge "a spastic".

Part of his problem, Hewitt said, was the organisers' decision to schedule him as the first match on at 11am, despite having not finished in Dusseldorf until Saturday and being the sixth seed here.

Last year, his complaint was about being forced to continue his fourth-round match against Albert Costa in rain and failing light. The year before, on debut, he lost his cool in a first-up loss to Argentine Martin Rodriguez.

Still, Hewitt predicted he would "take things away from the [Mathieu] match that I can improve for the rest of the tournament.

"I think every match that I play is getting better and better on clay. I'm still learning a hell of a lot of things. Experience is going to help in the future.

"Two, three, four years down the track playing here, I'm going to be a better player."

Just as he had seen little of the 243rd-ranked Mathieu, Hewitt knows nothing about Davydenko, other than that he thrashed an unwell Jonas Bjorkman in straight sets on Monday and pushed Pat Rafter in a tight second round of this year's Australian Open.

Australia finished the first day with a 2-3 record, Hewitt and Nicole Pratt's advances counter-balanced by the defeats of Andrew Ilie, 6-4 6-1 2-6 6-3 by Thomas Enqvist; Alicia Molik, 5-7 6-4 6-4 by Nathalie Dechy; and Scott Draper, 6-2 6-4 6-4 by Andy Roddick.

Pratt thwarted French wildcard Karolina Jagienak 6-3 7-5 for her second win in four visits to Roland Garros. Molik, who, like Draper, was granted a wildcard under the exchange program between the French and Australian federations, was not without her chances, taking the first set from the 38th-ranked Dechy before losing.

Draper, who earned his main draw place in an Australian play-off, did not generate a single break point on the dominant Roddick serve but there was no disgrace in his defeat, for it was the American's 11th consecutive win on clay, and he has been tipped by John McEnroe as an outsider for the title.

Roddick, 18, argues otherwise, and it is true that he had never won a grand slam match before this week. This may be the start of something for the new generation of American men. He next plays Michael Chang, a fading remnant of his former self.

The form of defending champion Kuerten in beating Argentine Guillermo Coria 6-1 7-5 6-4 was ominous and the Brazilian declared himself over his recent leg injury.

Hewitt sees red on clay May 30 2001 i7sport

It seems safe to assume "Paris In The Springtime" is not one of Lleyton Hewitt's favourite songs.

Hewitt yesterday made a tempestuous French Open return which again left locals lamenting that they just don't know how to love him.

In his first appearance in 1999, Hewitt fumed and boiled his way through a first round loss to Argentine Martin Rodriguez which left the crowd jeering him.

Last year he was spitting chips again, after a fourth round loss to Albert Costa in wet and dark conditions he said were too dangerous for play.

This time Hewitt has returned as a more seasoned and ostensibly more mature 20-year-old and sixth seed, but again will have failed to endear himself to the French crowd with his first appearance.

Hewitt was noticeably testy on court as he struggled to overcome French teen and wildcard Paul-Henri Mathieu in four sets, 7-6 4-6 6-3 6-2.

At one point during the three-and-a-half hour match in steamy conditions on Roland Garros' second court, Hewitt was warned by the chair umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct after calling the net cord judge "a spastic".

Then after completing the win, Hewitt again showed little regard for what the Parisien tennis public thought of him by accusing tournament officials of favouring his French opponent over him in the draw.

Hewitt was incensed to have had to play first, at 11.00am, two days after leading Australia to its World Teams Championship victory in Duesseldorf on Saturday by beating Russia's Marat Safin.

"They definitely looked after their own players out there today with having me go out there first match after playing a pretty tough week last week - four singles matches and a doubles match," Hewitt said.