Hewitt highly strung

25aug01
LLEYTON Hewitt's fierce competitiveness has become his grand slam liability with coach Darren Cahill calling on him not to treat every game as life and death.

Cahill has worked on Hewitt's mental approach in the lead-up to the US Open, starting at Flushing Meadow on Tuesday ¨C believing this holds the key to him breaking through the grand slam barrier.

While Cahill admires Hewitt's will to win, he wishes the 20-year-old could learn to pace himself.

Hewitt's consistency and determination in every week of the ATP Tour has underpinned his rise to become the Open's fourth men's seed, his highest seeding yet at a major. He has recorded 57 wins this year, the most by any man on tour.

Yet his tour workload is increasingly being seen as the reason why the brilliant youngster's record against elite players has not fully translated to the two-week, best-of-five set grand slam format.

"I've been trying to get him to focus on the grand slams more and not be so desperate to win every match, every week. He's getting there, but he's such a competitor," Cahill said yesterday, after Hewitt had practised at Flushing Meadow.

"Unlike some players, Lleyton doesn't really have a bad time of the year and he wins a lot of matches. The ATP Tour is more of a sprint (with best-of-three set matches) and it's going to be something he will learn with every grand slam he plays.

"At a grand slam, there's more media, more fans and every grand slam he plays, he'll learn a little more about how to get through it all. He has to learn how to take the little stresses out of his life.

"It's a matter of time before he does (win one). He's impatient, but he's a great player because he's impatient. He's not one of the top chances for this like (Gustavo) Kuerten or (Pat) Rafter. But Pat was 24 before he won a grand slam, so he has plenty of time."

Whether Cahill was trying to hose down expectations on Hewitt's chances is open to scrutiny, but he does come to New York without a recent title, in contrast to the form he has brought to Australian Open and Wimbledon in the past two years.

He made the semi-finals in Cincinnati before a third round loss to Moroccan Younes El Ayanoui in Indianapolis two weeks back.

Hewitt's North American campaign also represents a one-year anniversary of the onset of a recurring respiratory problem, which may be related to pollen in the air, and forced him to default a doubles match in Cincinnati three weeks ago.

Hewitt's father Glynn said the Australian No. 1 was booked in for further medical tests in Australia when he returns for the Davis Cup semi-final in late September.

"It knocks him about in the slams when he plays best of five sets," Glynn Hewitt said. "It started in Canada last year and it stayed with him right to the US Open.

"The breathing doesn't seem to be too bad at the moment, but he doesn't know what is working. It triggered at Wimbledon one night for no real reason and had an X-ray after Wimbledon."

Hewitt spent the first part of the week watching girlfriend Kim Clijsters play the WTA event in New Haven and practising with Cahill.
Hewitt seeks cap to season by Jon Wertheim

August 21, 2001 

Lleyton Hewitt had just finished a routine
practice with his coach, Darren Cahill, at
the RCA Championships in Indianapolis last
week. As he walked through the grounds
before changing his clothes and making a noon tee time, the world's
fourth-ranked player went virtually unnoticed. In a way, it was hard to
blame the fans. Away from center court and with his trademark ponytail
shorn, Hewitt could have passed for another handsome, blond 20-year-old
in the Heartland, whiling away a languorous August day before returning to
Purdue for his junior year.

Still, it was hard to believe that this cipher was the same player who, earlier
this year, attracted controversy like a street lamp does moths. At the
Australian Open, Hewitt's fist-pumping, his battle cry "C'mon, Rock," and
his assorted self-exhorting histrionics split the tennis world like a buzz saw.
Either you loved a 5-foot-9 player who embraced the underdog shtick and
betrayed so much passion in a sport often accused of serial blandness. Or
you sided with Brad Gilbert, who suggested that Hewitt's antics should
have earned him a forearm shiver or two in the locker room. (Yes, that
Gilbert is critiquing any player for maddening on-court behavior gives a
new dimension to irony.) Where has all the buzz gone? "I think a lot of it
was just the Australian media, stirring it up," says Hewitt, whose
relationship with the scribes of his country is in a state of permafrost.
"Things have definitely died down a bit since then."

The funny thing is that his game has never warranted more attention. The
ATP leader in match wins with 57, Hewitt has been the most reliable
player in tennis this year. He has yet to drop consecutive matches -- that is,
the only double L's are in his first name. Though he's at his best on hard
courts, where his penetrating groundies get that extra pop and his
Mercury-esque foot speed serves him best, Hewitt might be the sport's top
all-surface player. Already this year, he's beaten Gustavo Kuerten on
clay -- in Florianapolis, Brazil, no less -- in Davis Cup. "That might be the
biggest win of my career," he says. "I'm still really proud of how I fought."
So, too, has he beaten Pete Sampras and Tim Henman on grass. In
fact, heading into Wimbledon, Hewitt had won 10 straight matches on sod
and was tabbed by many, including Sampras, as a favorite for the
tournament. He "peaked too early," as the cliché goes, losing to Nicolas
Escude in the fourth round at the All England. Still, his grass record of
13-1 presages success next year.

For all of Hewitt's abundant gifts, including the best lob on tour, his biggest
assets might be neurological. The anti-choker, he seems to play his best
tennis when the stakes are highest, and already he has an impressive
compendium of wins in close matches. "Roll the balls out there at 4-4 in the
third set, and there are not many guys better than Lleyton," says Pat
Rafter, who, along with fellow Aussie Scott Draper, is Hewitt's best
friend on tour. "He has that toughness you don't often see, especially for
someone his age."

However, though he has reached the semis at four Master Series
tournaments, Hewitt has yet to bag one. And his showing at Grand Slams
this year has been marked by underachievement. Perhaps this is why his
aura has dimmed. Owing to these shortcomings, Hewitt concedes: "It's
been a good year, but not a great year."

That could easily change with a command performance at the year's final
Slam. A semifinalist last year, Hewitt is seeded fifth at the U.S. Open. He
is training this week in New Haven, Conn., where his girlfriend, Kim
Clijsters, is playing the Pilot Pen. When he arrives in Flushing Meadows,
rest assured the spotlight will shine elsewhere. Just as Hewitt's matches are
writ large in Melbourne, Americans with names like Sampras, Andre
Agassi and Andy Roddick will get disproportionate attention in New
York. But with defending champ Marat Safin in muddled straits,
Sampras a nonentity, Agassi up to his old schizoid tricks and Kuerten
nursing an injured rib cage, Hewitt is a player well worth watching. As the
undersized underdog with an outsized heart will readily admit, it's only a
matter of time before he gets his Rocky ending.

Rafter, Hewitt set for Sydney

By PATRICK MILES

21 August 01

The Australian

THE organisers of Sydney's Tennis Masters Cup are salivating at the prospect of two Australians in the eight-man field for the climax to the season in November.

There is every chance that Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt will finish the regular season in the top eight of the ATP Champions Race, thereby qualifying for the $US3.7 million event at the 17,800-seat SuperDome.

Rafter, who won his first title for more than a year at the RCA Championships in Indianapolis at the weekend, is fourth in the standings, just 10 points behind Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Hewitt, who has won three tournaments so far this year, is in fourth place, 92 points behind his Davis Cup team-mate, and there is a considerable gap to the sixth-placed Frenchman, Sebastien Grosjean.

At the head of the order, Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, the injured runner-up to Rafter in Indianapolis, and Andre Agassi, of the US, have already earned enough points to make the Masters, on November 12-18.

With three major events to play before the season's Sydney finale, Rafter and Hewitt require only a few more victories to ensure a place.

Form suggests they can do well at the US Open, which begins in less than a week, then the two remaining Tennis Masters Series events in Stuttgart and Paris.

Rafter won his two grand slam titles in New York, where Hewitt reached the semi-finals last year.

And the 20-year-old South Australian recorded his best TMS result in Stuttgart, losing the final last year to veteran Wayne Ferreira.

There are 400 points up for grabs in New York, Stuttgart and Paris, allowing the race for Sydney to be fought out until November.

Rafter, who benefited from an injury to Kuerten in Sunday's final, has made the Masters a priority in what could be his last season on the tour.

"It is definitely one of my goals this year, to try to make it and play in Sydney," Rafter said. "But it is tough because there are probably 15 guys out there who are capable of making it up to three weeks before."

One of those guys is Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic, who beat Rafter in last month's thrilling Wimbledon final, the first of four championship matches in succession for the 28-year-old Queenslander.

His hollow victory over Kuerten, who was forced to retire hurt trailing 4-2 in the first set, broke a losing sequence of three for Rafter, who lost the finals in Montreal and Cincinnati after his disappointment at Wimbledon.

But it was a rib not an ankle that provided him with the 11th title of his career. After losing three finals in a row, Rafter said he might have to reply on someone spraining an ankle to bring him ultimate success.

In the event, it was a painful rib injury that led to the downfall of Kuerten, who had beaten Rafter the previous week.

"I hope I didn't put a jinx on him," Rafter said.

The French Open champion had to play twice in one day after his semi-final against Ivanisevic was postponed due to rain. Kuerten overcame the Croat in three sets but his body failed him in the final.

Hewitt bows out

In some ways, Lleyton Hewitt welcomed his upset loss at the $US800,000 ($A1.53 million) RCA Tennis Championships.

Third-seeded Hewitt's hectic past caught up with him as he lost to Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-3.

His fitness has been slightly suspect for a week or more after playing a series of long three-setters at the Cincinnati Masters, where he lost to Pat Rafter in the semi-finals.

The 20-year-old admitted that taking time off from now until the US Open in just over a week will be a welcome break.

"It was windy today and I couldn't get any rhythm," said the winner of three titles this season.

"But I had some tough matches last week and a bit of a chest infection. I didn't feel so great in the second round against Taylor Dent."

Hewitt described his two hour 12 minute loss as "one of the worst matches I've played. They happen occasionally."

While Hewitt bowed out, Rafter continued his great form with a routine 6-4 6-4 win over Kristian Pless of Denmark

Rafter and Hewitt cruise through in Indianapolis
By Sandra Harwitt

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug 14 (Reuters) - It was plain sailing for Australians Lleyton
Hewitt and Patrick Rafter on Wednesday in the second round of the RCA
Championships.

The third-seeded Hewitt won his second career victory in as many matches
against the 127th-ranked Taylor Dent with a 6-2 7-6 triumph to move into the
third round.

Looking even fitter than Hewitt, the fifth-seeded Rafter needed only 56
minutes to send Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic packing 6-2 6-0.

Rafter is claiming to be weary from a busy summer schedule, in which he
reached the finals of his last three tournaments -- suffering a five-set loss
to Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon, a surprise defeat by Andrei Pavel in
Montreal and a straight-sets drubbing by world number one Gustavo Kuerten in
Cincinnati last week.

But the double U.S Open champion appeared to be in peak condition against the
50th-ranked Tabara, saving all seven break points he offered during the match
and coming through with 26 outright winners to only 13 for the Czech native.

"It went pretty smoothly but physically it's getting harder and harder to go
out there and keep playing," said Rafter, who is due to play the Long Island
event next week, the U.S. Open and then the Davis Cup semifinals in Sydney at
the end of September.

"But I'd like to have a good week here.  When I decide to turn up at a
tournament I always try to put in my best effort."

Rafter is hoping that a good outing in Indianapolis will earn him a place in
the year-end Tennis Masters Cup alongside Kuerten and Australian Open
champion Andre Agassi, who have already made the grade.

TIME OFF
He will then take at least six months off from the sport and plans on driving
around Australia while the Australian Open is on in Melbourne in January.

"I think (the players) will be jealous because I'm going to be going around
and going to the beach," Rafter said.

Hewitt, accompanied in Indianapolis by his girlfriend, French Open finalist
Kim Clijsters, needed 78 minutes to dispose of Dent, whom he also beat in the
second round of Wimbledon this year.

"The guy doesn't give you a lot of rhythm and doesn't give you too many
chances on his service games," said Hewitt.

"You have to get off to a good start on his serve and you have to stay on top
of it all the time."

Hewitt dominated the first set with service breaks in the third and seventh
game, but Dent, who has been given a wildcard to the U.S. Open, was less
accommodating in the second set.

Each player had scored two service breaks in the second set, but it was the
more experienced Hewitt that broke away in the tiebreaker to win.

Hewitt is consistently touted as a future Grand Slam champion, but to date
his best performance at a major was reaching the semifinals at the 2000 U.S.
Open.

But Hewitt is hardly disappointed with his career progress.

"I think things have been very good," Hewitt said. "When I hooked up with
Darren (Cahill, his coach) over three years ago, we were going for my peaking
at about 24, 25-years-old.

"Right now, I'm sitting at number four in the world at 20-years-old and
that's pretty good."