MODERATOR: Okay. Questions for Lleyton?

Q. Did the fact that your match ended so late

last night have any affect on today, on the way you

were feeling on the court today?

HEWITT: I don't know about finishing so

late, but I think, you know, I played three very tough

matches the last, you know, three days. I've had long

three-setters. I have a bit of a cold, as well. It's

just sort of building up, building up, building up. I

felt like I hit a bit of a wall out there. I couldn't get

up for my first serve, my percentage went down. Pat's too

good a player to let him look at second serves.

Q. It was strange, he was all over the place

at the start; and when he found his form, it seemed you

weren't able to respond.

HEWITT: Yeah, he's serving great. At

the moment, you know, with the results he's had, you know,

into his third final in a row now for him, he's probably

playing the best tennis, you know, he's ever played. And

he's playing maybe as good as anyone in the world right

now, as well. He's a tough guy to play on these kinds of

surfaces, pretty quick hard court out there. It's hard to

pass him, I couldn't control my returns today and make him

play a lot of tough volleys. He stayed back on a couple

of second serves, and was able to get into the rally.

Q. Were you surprised at how good Ljubicic

played last night?

HEWITT: He had a very big game. He was

good in the juniors. He went walkabout a couple of times

in matches, if he can put it together, as we saw last

weekend Agassi's, he's had two good weeks in a row.

Q. The last point of the first set, the ball

you hit either hit the line or was very close?

HEWITT: It was one of those that could

Q. What was your view of where it landed?

HEWITT: It was half on the line and half

out. It was one of those, when I hit it, you knew it was

going to be close. I didn't time it perfectly, hit it in

the exact right spot. Some days it works, some days it

doesn't.

Q. Did that stick with you at all? I think

you had a break pretty earlier in the second?

HEWITT: That didn't worry me. I was a

bit more disappointed with two double-faults, I had to

keep fighting when I was up a break at four-three. And

it's hard when I wasn't making a lot of first serves. And

I had to go for my second serve a bit more. He was just

coming in if I didn't get anything on that second serve.

Q. What about those two double-faults in the

first set?

HEWITT: That's what I just talked about.

Q. Is that the best he played against you?

I mean, you last played in '99, but can you remember how

well he was playing or --

HEWITT: It's definitely a bit patchy out

there today. Once he's got his serve going, he's very

tough to break out there. I regard my return of serve as

one of the best in the world, probably, and I couldn't get

that much on it today, particularly on this kind of hard

court. You know, the past two years he did very well at

the US Open. He had a great US summer leading into it,

winning here, and winning in Toronto.

Q. But obviously you're racking up the wins,

you've won more matches than anybody else in the tour

three times, three semifinals in the Masters Series,

haven't quite made the breakthrough in the slams this

year. What do you think you've got to do to win those

really big matches?

HEWITT: This is my fourth semi, so I'm

obviously around the mark, made the quarterfinals on the

French, it's hard to stay. I feel like it's just sort of

a matter of time. I'm hitting the ball well enough. I

think it was a little hard last week sort of coming off

coming from grass onto hard courts was a bit of a change.

But this week, even though I wasn't playing my best

tennis, I was competing very well in all my matches.

That's one of my strength. Just maybe stuff like last

night, closing out the match in straight sets. Up 7-6,

and then up 4-3 and serving, ended up going to a third

set. To my credit I kept going, but I would have been

inside forty-five minutes earlier.

Q. What's the situation with your sinus

problems? Are you still suffering from it?

HEWITT: Up and down. Some days are

better than others. But I think it's more allergies

rather than sinuses.

Q. Was it worse late last year, or is it the

same?

HEWITT: It comes and goes a little bit.

Late last year was pretty bad. In Toronto it started, and

went through to the US Open, and then the European indoor

season. It's been hanging around for a year, and coming

and going a little bit. But I'm at my highest ranking at

the moment, so it doesn't affect my tennis too much.

Q. Do you take medication for it?

HEWITT: I take a few things.

Q. Did this week's heat, and being in a

valley, bother you?

HEWITT: No. It's been a lot better here

than it's been in a lot of other places. It's fine.

Q. What do you think Pat's doing better?

HEWITT: He's obviously serving well.

He's moving great. And he made a lot more balls from the

baseline than I've seen him make before, as well. So I

think he's more consistent from the baseline. He's taking

his opportunities, when he can, to get in, he's all over

guy's second serves at the moment.

Q. How do you feel about Patrick making

noise about being out of tennis after a six-month break?

HEWITT: I'm not going there.

HEWITT: It's his choice.

Q. Will you miss him?

HEWITT: Sure. I think everyone will.

MODERATOR: Anything else for Lleyton?

MODERATOR: Okay. Lleyton advances to

his first semifinal here at Tennis Masters Cincinnati, two

and 0 record, up against Patrick Rafter tomorrow.

Q. Since there were two matches going on at

the same time -- the second set, you served for the set,

and what happened in that moment?

HEWITT: I was down an early break in the

second set and fought out of it, and got to 5-3 up, and

got off to a slow start that game, made a couple of

errors, and he picked up his game. I had him sort of down

and out, I thought, there, he kept fighting and got out of

that game and played a great tiebreak, didn't give me any

chances. Whereas in the first set, I played a good

tiebreak there, and I was able to regroup.

Q. Is this a strange day for you, warming up

on one court, getting moved to another?

HEWITT: Strange, yeah. Not much I can

do about it. It was fine for me. You can't do anything

about the weather. Obviously, we've had pretty hot

weather the whole time through, it's fair enough that we

get a shower or two.

Q. Can you talk about your match up with

Patrick, and just playing him?

HEWITT: It's going to be tough. We're

good mates. Pat's done a lot for my game, and help me out

through the Davis Cup ties as well as just being around

him at all the main tournaments, as well, since I was very

young and started on the tour. I'm going to go out there

and try to forget that, and just play my game, and,

hopefully, play well, and give it everything I've got

tomorrow.

Q. Do you remember the first time you saw

him playing. On TV or ion a tournament?

HEWITT: No, I can't really remember the

first time I saw him play. He wasn't sort of the highest

Australian when he first came on, when I took a main

interest in tennis. But I was there around him with the

Davis Cup ties. When he first started doing things on the

tours. I think it all started at the first Davis Cup,

when he came back from two sets love on a break against

Pete Lane.

Q. Do you remember meeting him for the first

time?

HEWITT: I don't remember when I met him,

but I remember hanging around him a lot that week leading

into that Davis Cup. There was no better Davis Cup tie

for me to be at for my first ever Davis Cup tie than that

match. You got goose bumps watching it. To be with him

in the locker room, and going to dinner with them, I was

15.

Q. Were you a practice partner for that

team?

HEWITT: Yeah, an orange boy, we call it.

You do everything for them.

Q. Do you remember what you took away from

that week the most, what you learned the most?

HEWITT: Just how much he loved playing

for Australia. I remember watching guys like Pat Cash,

play great epic Davis Cup matches for Australia. I've

always wanted to play Davis Cup. Once I saw how much he

put into it, how the whole team put in a hundred percent

playing Davis Cup, made me want to get out there sooner

than later. And I was fortunate enough, two years later I

got called up.

THE MODERATOR: That was '96.

HEWITT: '97.

Q. What's your relationship with him like?

A. We're very close, obviously. He's

probably, you know, the closest guy on the tour for me.

You know, probably he and Scott Draper. Now that Scotty's

not traveling as much at the moment, at least at the

tournaments, have dinner, go to the movies, play golf with

Pat, pretty close.

Q. He said he helped he you; how has he

helped you?

HEWITT: A guy with that type of

experience take you under his wing when you're very young,

he knows everyone on the tour, he's there. And I'm

practicing with him, you learn little things. Such a high

professional guy sort of on and off the court. I've sort

of been able to sort of model a lot of my things, how

professional to be before matches, and stuff like that,

around what Pat's done.

Q. How would you say you guys are most

different?

HEWITT: Are what?

Q. Most different than him?

HEWITT: I probably get a little more

pumped up on the court. And the most pumped up I've ever

seen him, the Davis Cup doubles in Brazil. First time I

played Davis Cup doubles and he was outdoing me there.

Q. Talk about your matches with him. He

hasn't been able to beat you?

HEWITT: Yeah. It was sort of -- well,

the first time I played him was in Sydney, on rebound

days. He was struggling, sort of playing on rebound days

at that time. Since then he's worked on his game and

using his serve more effective. In Scottsdale, second

round, a couple of years ago, but it's a long time, he

definitely wasn't playing his best at that time.

Q. Any secret weapon against him tomorrow?

HEWITT: Not really. I have to, you

know, return very well, that's for sure. He serves -- and

his volleys are the best in the world. Yeah, I'm going to

have to, when I do get my opportunities, try and take

them. Otherwise he's going to be all over me.

Q. Is it strange playing him?

HEWITT: Yeah, it's tough. It's tough

playing all the other friends, because pretty much guys

around. And that's why I love Davis Cup, so much, being

around those guys. I've got a pretty good record against

the Australians so far. Maybe they feel sorry for me,

being the youngest. I just try to play my game, and don't

look at who's on the other side.

Q. Did you consider playing doubles at all

tonight?

HEWITT: Probably not until five-four

matchpoint, that really didn't cross my mind the whole

time.

Q. No, no, after it was over, after the

match.

HEWITT: After the match? No, I have got

a bit of a cold, so I wasn't going to risk that.

Q. Who wins the golf matches between you and

Pat?

HEWITT: It's very close. We have a good

game. We try to play against Darin or his bother Peter.

Q. Did you watch the matches today?

HEWITT: A little.

Q. Did you know it went so long?

HEWITT: Yeah. I was following it. He

lost the second set tiebreak. He got out of that, and he

was a pretty strong favorite in the end, I thought.

Q. What do you think of the future of the

Australian tennis. Pat won't play next year, we don't

know when Mark Philippoussis is going to come back.

You're the only one there?

HEWITT: It's hard to say. Something has

got to be done, you know, some of the juniors programs

back home, because there's not much coming up at the

moment. And there's a lot of guys very close to that age,

around the 30 area. Wayne Arthur has a body on him

probably like a 25 year old, but he's still nearly 30, 31.

I think he can probably only play a couple years. Todd

Woodbridge, he's getting up there, as well. I think we've

got some good juniors back home, 12, 13, 14 years old, but

guys we've hit with the Davis Cup, but they haven't broke

through yet and got the results. They may be late

developers. Guys like Newcombe Roche, of course, trying

to help out the junior aspects of the Davis Cup ties, they

bring juniors there and workout with them and get them

more professional on and off the court. It helped me, and

hopefully it will some other juniors.

Q. You will be the guy who people focus on,

depends on how you play, how Australia will play in the

Davis Cup. Is it more pressure for you?

HEWITT: It's a wait and see. Hopefully

someone will come up. Who knows, my ranking may drop, I

could be number one in the world. Everyone expects that,

of course. It's sort of a guessing game. We've got a

chance for me going through the Davis Cup final this year,

and that's what we're concentrating on.

Q. What do you have to say about Goran

Ivanisevic's game?

HEWITT: He's got a great game, big

serve.

Q. Backhand?

HEWITT: Very nice backhand, strongest

shot off the baseline.

Q. In the second tiebreaker, you lost

concentration, right? What happened?

HEWITT: I don't know if I lost

concentration. I made one error, and he played a pretty

perfect tiebreak. I didn't' have much chance on his

serve. It's always going to be tough.

TENNIS MASTERS SERIES - CINCINNATI
L.Hewitt/M.Mirnyi  1-6, 6-4, 7-6

An Interview With:  Lleyton Hewitt
Third Round  8/9/01

MODERATOR: With the win today, Lleyton now improves to an ATP best, 55 match
wins on the year, and into his first quarterfinal here in Cincinnati.

All right. Questions?

Q. In what aspects do you feel you have most improved in the last year?

HEWITT: My serve's getting better and better, I think, but I've still got,
you know, a lot of room for improvement. I'm starting to come to the net a
little bit more, trying to get a bit more of an all-court game. And they're
probably the two main areas. I've
always been pretty consistent with the baseline, so that's not really going
to change. I've still got a lot of room to improve if I want to get to these
later chances in these kinds of events, and Grand Slams.

Q. Is it satisfying, coming from -- back from the first set like that?

HEWITT: The first set and a half there I really had no chance. He was serving
huge, and slapping returns there in the center. It's hard to get into a
rhythm out there. I put my head down and tried plugging away, and eventually
got the break, and started believing in myself. I got a break again, that
came at five-four.

He played an average game, a few double-faults there, and the third I was up
and he broke me back. And it was a sort of a dog fight out there till the
tiebreaker.

Q. Running out of gas, going to the second three-setter in less than 24
hours?

HEWITT: That's going to be tough. I'm going to play doubles this afternoon,
as well. I didn't play too many matches last week. I lost in the first round
of doubles pretty easily, and lost in the singles second round. I want to get
some tough match practice,
going to the US Open, too. So it all counts for that, as well.

Q. You feel that the biggest obstacle for you, you're very young, but to go
all the way in a Grand Slam is physical, because your game is so demanding,
physically?

HEWITT: Definitely be tough, that's for sure. No doubt about that. I've seen
guys in the past have been able to do it. You know, it's obviously going to
be hard to play seven best of five matches, you know, in extreme conditions,
you know, where you've got to make a lot of balls and you've got to be very
fit going into the tournaments. If you can get a couple of good opportunities
and destroy some guys early in the tournament and get an easy -- I give
myself a pretty good chance.

Q. What's improved for you, mentally, in the last year?

HEWITT: I don't know. You know, I've always been pretty mentally tough. I
think that's one of the main reasons I've been able to get to the top five,
top ten in the world at such a young age. It's hard to say. I always felt
that I was good enough to give myself a chance to make the top five players
in the world; now that I've done that, the next step is to try to get to
number one in the world. But that everyone's goal.

Started making the semifinals and the finals in more Grand Slams, but
mentally tough, I've been pretty strong throughout my whole career.

Q. Is that how you get through a match like today?

HEWITT: It definitely helps. 6-1, 3-1 down, getting killed out there, a lot
of guys would throw it away against a guy with one of the best serves in the
game.

Q. Patrick said earlier the Davis Cup will pretty much keep him going after
the Open. Where does the Davis Cup fit into your life at this stage of your
career?

HEWITT: For me the Davis Cup is the most enjoyable part of the year, most
enjoyable time of the year. I love playing Davis Cup. I grew up watching
Davis Cup matches. Pat Cash's great matches, the nine against Sweden. I was
thrown into it at a very young age, so it's sort of in me. Newcombe and Roche
bred that into my game, as well. I love getting out there. And every time
comes the start of the year and we see the draw, check the Davis Cup, what
dates they're going to be, and work everything around that. Obviously, for me
winning in '99 was one of the biggest things in tennis you can do, for me to
do it in my first year.

Q. You get to play Sweden at home?

HEWITT: You can't underestimate the Swedes. They're a very tight team. They
stick together.  And work their butts off to try to beat us. We came through
the big one in Brazil, that was a huge task for us. I'm not sure if an
Australia team had beaten a South American team like that, specially with
Guga. We feel like we've gone through one tough stage, but there's two more
to go.

Q. Losing last in the final last year, apparently you were disappointed, but
you pulled out a great match against Albert Costa. Do you remember how much
you were suffering in that match? 

HEWITT: I had a lot of breathing problems, which started sort of probably a
month and a half, two months before that Davis Cup tie. And it was a very
emotional tie for the whole team because it was Newcombe and Roche's last tie
as well. I've never -- I
give a hundred percent when I'm out there, but never given more than I gave
in that tie. I was feeling horrendous out there, yet somehow was able to come
back and win it five sets against Costa, and then lost in four tight sets
against Ferrero. Talk about being on cloud nine for one day, and the next the
worse tennis feeling I've ever felt.

Q. Lleyton, a lot of instructors, top instructors would say, and have said
that the players with the western forehand will do well on clay, but it's a
bad grip on grass and hard courts. Yet you do good on hard courts and great
on grass. Is there anything you do differently with your forehand?

HEWITT: Mine's probably not as extreme as a lot of the clay courters out
there. The main area, why I've been able to do so well on grass, I'm very
quick around the court. And, you know, I've played a lot of Davis Cup ties
now, and big matches on grass, as well. So I've had to adapt my game to grass
a little bit. I've always been a very good return and server, as well. So
playing against a big server doesn't worry me. I've proven it definitely at
Queen's, wins over Sampras, Rusedski, Philippoussis.

Q. You're more of sort of a semi-western?

HEWITT: Maybe in between, get the textbook out.

MODERATOR: Okay. Anything else for Lleyton?

Q. Something totally different. How many times have you watched Rocky?

HEWITT: This never goes away. Haven't watched it for a long time, that's for
sure. I don't know -- every time Scott Draper comes over my house, we watch
it probably every day. Between 50 and a hundred, probably. Got all five as
well, mix and match, sometimes just go to the good fights.

MODERATOR: Anything else? All right. Good luck tomorrow. Thanks.

'77 was the last time we had two Australians in the quarterfinals here, John
James and John Alexander.

END--http://www.masters-series.com/cincinnati/news/interviews/thursday_hewitt.

An Interview With:

LLEYTON HEWITT

(First Round)

8/7/01

MODERATOR: Okay. Lleyton improves his

match record of 53 and 13 on the season, that's the most

wins on the ATP circuit this year. And he moves into the

second round okay questions?

Q. That was a pretty good match for you. It

started a little slow, but then you kind of broke out

there?

HEWITT: Yeah. It's hot. I haven't

played in center court here before. The first round, it's

always hard working your way into a tournament, as well.

Magnus has been struggling. He's had a lot of injuries,

and not in the greatest of form, as well. It's hard going

out there. I felt once I got that first set, I had to

consolidate it early in the second. And I was able to do

it. And I got better as the match went on.

Q. What do you think about the your label as

kind of being the next McEnroe, as far as how you act on

the court and all of that? What do you think of that?

HEWITT: I don't know. Who said that?

Q. I read it.

HEWITT: I haven't heard it.

Q. The whole Rocky thing, the whole

mentality.

HEWITT: If I win as many as Grand Slams

as John, I'll be very happy.

Q. Does that, your antics, I notice you

didn't do much of it tonight, what does that do for you

when you yell or you pump your fist?

HEWITT: I just -- I like to play with a

lot of emotion out there. That's when I'm playing my best

tennis, when I get the crowd involved. It's got nothing

to do with my opponent. I'm out there and trying to

produce the best tennis out of myself that's possible.

that's probably one of the main reasons I've been able to

go up in rank at such a young age.

Q. Did Rafter tell you at one time that you

need to settle down?

HEWITT: Not really. Not that I can

recall.

Q. Is it fun playing tennis under these

conditions, because it might not be conducive to the best

tennis?

HEWITT: It's tough. I don't know if

it's fun. It's definitely tough. It would have been a

lot tougher out there this afternoon than tonight. It's

still very humid out there. You're sweating a lot, the

racket handle's getting slippery out there, very wet.

It's hard to produce your best tennis under that

situation. That's when the greatest players sort of stand

up and get counted. I think you have to do it. I've

learned, growing up in that Australia, playing in hot

summers, most of the junior tournaments we've played. I'm

fortunate that way. I've sort of grown up playing in

those conditions.

Q. Would that help, that you played in those

conditions, and maybe Magnus doesn't play as much --

HEWITT: Yeah, I think so. You know,

obviously, Pat and I played a lot of, you know, junior

tennis or whatever in Australia. And we've practiced a

lot in Australia under hot conditions. It's a lot dryer

heat, I think, in Australia than here. It's a lot more

humid. But hot's hot. You got to deal with it as best as

possible. And I think, you know, if you are used to it,

you got a better chance of doing it.

Q. There's been a lot of talk about the

changing of the guard this year, even being marketed by

the ATP Tour. Has that made the tennis more interesting,

do you think, where you have some of the guys who are on

the older end, they're trying to hang on to their turf,

and you guys are trying to come up and take it?

HEWITT: It's hard to say. Going out to

the public, if it applies. It's no different if I'm

playing Pete, Andre or Pat, or Roddick, Safin, or Guga,

I'm going to give a hundred percent. It's not sort of --

beat one of the these old guys, the older guys out there.

I think it's a good publicity thing done by the ATP Tour,

though, that's for sure. They got some of the younger

guys' names out there who a lot of the public haven't

heard of, and throwing them in the spotlight more. And

it's -- it gives them more publicity.

Q. Do you see that at the tournaments and on

the court more? It's a marketing campaign, obviously, you

might see some of that show up when you're playing?

HEWITT: I don't think any of the players

look at it in that way. The Tour did that to get the

publicity, and to, I think, just, you know, make the high

profile of some of the younger guys, which other people

don't see because a lot of the people only know sort of

Pete, Andre, and Pat Rafter around the world. Now we're

getting Roddick, Jan-Michel, myself out there. But when

it comes to playing in the court, it's not: I've got to

try to knock off one of these older guys.

Q. One of the things Pete was talking about

this afternoon, he tried to train harder this year and do

more things off the court so he could keep up with some of

the younger players. Doesn't that say that he's a little

bit worried about it?

HEWITT: You know Pete, he's obviously

getting a bit older, as well, so maybe he's not in as good

a shape as he was when he was 21, 22. And maybe you got

to work a little bit harder to get your fitness up to that

same level you were at 21, 22 when you get to around 30.

But I don't think Pete sees it as going out there trying

to destroy one of the younger guys. He'd go out and play

just as hard against Agassi and Rafter as myself or Safin.

Q. You're constantly being touted as a

future Grand Slam champion. When you look toward the

US Open, does that add pressure, or do you wipe that out

and worry about what is going on?

HEWITT: I really block it out. I

haven't been that close to winning a Grand Slam yet. I

had a good run at the US last year, a tight match with

Pete. And I haven't made that final Sunday at a Grand

at the moment. I feel quite confident going into the

Grand Slams now. On each surface I can match up with most

guys.

Q. You've had great success, won a lot of

tournaments, you haven't been able to go up that notch.

HEWITT: I think it's experience. As

soon as you get that opportunity, you know, it's hard

coming off sort of juniors and satellites and that, and

then you got to play to win a Grand Slam, seven

tournaments, best of five matches, and that's extremely

tough to do, sometimes in very trying conditions.

Wimbledon's probably not as long rallies as the other

Grand Slams. It's tough on your body, as well, if you're

not used to playing four-and-a-half, five matches, and

coming up two days later and backing it up. It's tough

for an 18 or 19 year old. I'm starting to get used to it.

I'm working on how to play the best of five matches.

Q. Mentally, do you feel like you've been

able to, you know, keep the momentum going from your

successes the first two years, without hitting a plateau,

like maybe Safin has hit. You keep improving. Is mental

the biggest part of that?

HEWITT: At the moment my rankings still

going in the right direction. I'm sitting around four or

five now. Last year I finished at number 7. I've got

better and better each year. It's going to be extremely

tough to stamp your mark and stay in the top ten, but

that's another challenge that I look forward to, staying

up there. You know, there areas in my game that I'm going

to work on. And I believe I'm capable of doing it. And

I'm going to be a much better player two, three, four

years down the track.

MODERATOR: Okay, anything else?

Okay. Good luck tomorrow.

CONFÉRENCE DE PRESSE / PRESS CONFERENCE MATCH: LLEYTON HEWITT vs. HICHAM ARAZI

RÉSULTAT / SCORE: 1-6, 4-6 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2001

AN INTERVIEW WITH: LLEYTON HEWITT
TOUR OFFICIAL: All right. Questions for Lleyton?

REPORTER: Lleyton, you passed only 30 per cent of your first serves in the first set, 47 per cent overall. Would you say that was a big factor tonight, your serve?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know, I would have had to hit a lot more balls in, even if I got the serve in. Obviously it was one area of my game that I wasn't happy with. Overall, I just didn't hit the ball well tonight. I just didn't have any confidence from the back of the court. Yeah, that comes with not playing a lot of matches. Coming here, after having a few weeks off. It happened last year as well. This time of the year hasn't treated me too well.

REPORTER: It was your first time against Arazi. Is it more difficult to play against a left-handed player?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, in the past it hasn't really worried me. I've had good wins against left-handers, Rusedski, Clavet, Ivanisevic. So it hasn't really worried me in the past. Tonight I just had no confidence. It wouldn't have mattered who I was playing against, I think.

REPORTER: Arazi doesn't have a very powerful second serve, yet you couldn't seem to attack it. Why is that, do you know?

LLEYTON HEWITT: He's got a tricky sort of serve. He has a lot of spin on it. Sort of comes into your body. I wasn't sure if it would fly forehand or backhand off it as well. It is a lot harder to play than it probably looks on TV, that's for sure.

REPORTER: What do you need to do to regain your form? Is it a question of more practice time, a question of more match time?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Probably both. Yeah, definitely got to hit a lot more balls, got to work hard. And -- yeah, I've been playing well, you know, pretty much the whole year. So you've got to have a few downers here and there. Last year this was sort of my downfall and then I got it going in Indianapolis, making the semis there and then the semis of the U.S. Open. That's sport. Hopefully, I can gain it quick enough within the next couple of weeks before the Open.

REPORTER: You've had quite good success this year at the slams. I mean, do you go so far as to set targets for yourself for the U.S. Open, around the middle of the year and then say you would like to make X round?

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I just take it one match at a time. Last year was obviously a huge step for me in the Grand Slams, making the semifinals there. I had my chances against Sampras in that match. I feel comfortable on the hard courts and I feel like I'm working towards peaking at the U.S. Open. And, you know, I've got to get that spark back. And, you know, sort of get some, you know, a lot more sort of running in my legs as well, if I'm going to be able to go five sets on those tough hard courts.

REPORTER: How do you explain that lack of confidence, does it having something to do with your tough win the other day?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. No, I played pretty ordinary in that match as well. Can't say that I hit the ball well. So, yeah, I wasn't expecting a lot going out there tonight, that's for sure and the form that I played two nights ago. Yeah, I think it's just got something to do having a few weeks off, putting the feet up. You know, I hit a lot of balls, but still coming into the match hard was very hard.

REPORTER: Is it a mental aspect or a fitness aspect or both?

LLEYTON HEWITT: A little bit of both, I reckon.

REPORTER: Lleyton, how can you explain so many seeded players who fell down after two rounds?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Got no idea. Every case is probably different. Some of them had extremely tough draws. Some guys probably coming off a break. Some were coming from Europe, on the clay courts. There's a lot of reasons, I think, and everyone's probably got a different reason.

REPORTER: Lleyton, a lot of players mentioned the surface here and lightness of the balls and so forth. Is that something that factored into your comfort zone or lack thereof?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. It's extremely fast courts out there, though. It's definitely too quick, I think. Everyone complained about the Australian Open court a couple of years ago. But this is way quicker than that out there, I think.

REPORTER: As such, does it sort of take away from this event's usefulness as a tune up for the run up to the U.S. Open?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know about that. But I definitely think it would be, you know, more useful if we had the same paced court as the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows. I think we've got to start using the same ball the weeks going into the Grand Slams. I know a lot of players have argued this in the past, that we should start using the same balls we are going to be using in the Grand Slam. There is no point using a different kind of ball and when we get to the slam we use a totally different type of ball. I think the tour has got to do something about that pretty quick smart.

REPORTER: In fact, is it harder to adjust to the balls or the surface, or is it a factor, like a combination of the two? If you had, for example, the same balls that you use at the U.S. Open on this surface?

LLEYTON HEWITT: It is still going to be quicker, that's for sure. The court's a lot quicker than the U.S. Open. Yeah, the U.S. Open has more of a kick than this court as well. But I think that -- yeah, it's hard to get your timing if you've had a few weeks off coming here on this kind of court, as well. That's probably one of the main areas why I've struggled in my first couple of matches.

TOUR OFFICIAL: Any other questions this evening? Okay.