LLEYTON ENERGY  Inside Sport May 2000  Accompanying Pictures
 
FOR YEARS AUSTRALIA CRAVED A FIRED-UP TENNIS CHAMPION. NOW THAT HE'S MATERIALISED, IN THE FORM OF LLEYTON HEWITT, ARE WE SURE WE REALLY WANT HIM?

For months we pursued Lleyton Hewitt, like a mug greyhound chasing an illusory quarry. Not today,
said John McCurdy his manager. Maybe next week, maybe next month. Now that Hewitt has been voted
the least admired sportsperson on the planet by readers of Inside Sport, maybe never.
Least admired sportsman? Lower on the totem pole than Mike Tyson? What exactly has Hewitt done to
deserve that? Has he set fire to an orphanage? Has he run off with Rafter's girlfriend? "What
are you doing to your Australian players?" tut-tuts Daniel Chambon, a tennis presenter for 
Eurosport. "Are you trying to send Hewitt to America, like Philippoussis?"
Well, spouting off about "the stupidity of the Australian public", as Hewitt did early this year
in Adelaide, is a major thing to live down, even if it's obvious that he didn't mean what he said.
(Why would Hewitt insult the hometown crowd that has supported him so strongly?) Instead of 
singling out the hecklers, instead of saying, "There are always a couple of idiots in the crowd
who don't realise that, even if you are 5-0 up, the set isn't won", the hot headed Hewitt lashed 
out at everyone. It didn't help that he never took full responsibility for the gaffe. 
Though Hewitt publicly apologised, he privately seethes that a reporter goaded him into the 
verbal double-fault. Hewitt won that second-round match against Dejan Petrovic 6-0, 6-2, clearly
unaffected by the hecklers. What kind of competitor is still pissed off after winning a match 
love and two? Pat Cash's theory is that Hewitt was miffed at not having all the crowd support, 
something he has become accustomed to as an underdog. Is Hewitt so lacking in compassion that he
can't accept crowd encouragement for a battler? And a battler who is not only a fellow-
Australian but from the same city? Hewitt equated support for his opponent with tall poppy 
syndrome: 'You [Australians] always knock the better players...' To his critics, the incident 
showed Hewitt's bloody-mindedness and his view of opponents as stepping stones rather than people.
 So damaging was the Adelaide debacle that Pat Rafter, whom Hewitt considers a role model, felt
the need to put a call through to the youngster. You know you've stuffed up when Rafter is in 
your ear! His advice: don't let the crowd get to you and don't give the media such easy headlines.
 "We're good mates ... we pick on each other and give each other a hard time, so I can talk to 
him about it," Rafter said. But apart from the Adelaide outburst, Hewitt has actually done little
to deserve the ire of punters. His sins are more imagined than real. He is an anti-hero for 
reasons of style rather than substance. For a segment of the Australian public, it's enough that
Hewitt wears his baseball cap backwards. A good many others, who think of tennis as a stylish, 
dignified, cerebral sport, object to his testosterone level. Like his favourite band, Midnight 
Oil, Hewitt is too strident and fierce for some. All that glaring, gesticulating, fist- pumping
and howling "COME ON!' after every other winner. To his detractors, Hewitt's unabated aggression
appears manufactured, his focus almost psychotic. He doesn't just beat opponents; he blow- 
torches them. He's Mad Max in tennis whites, fuelled by a fury that no-one can fathon much 
less relate to. Even the gung-ho Davis Cup captain, John Newcombe, is taken aback at Hewitt's 
naked aggression. In Zurich for the first round of the Davis Cup in February, Hewitt needed to 
beat the Swiss number one, Roger Federer, to save the tie. At a change of ends during the 
deadlocked third set, relates Newk, Hewitt fixed his laser beam stare on his opponent and 
screamed, 'I'm not going down! I'm not going down!' This might be inspiring to teammates - 
as Newk says: "I love his fighting spirit. I'm glad he's on my team.' But it doesn't play well 
to opponents. Hewitt out-toughed the Swiss in the third-set tiebreak and ran away with the fourth
set, and the match, 6-1. 
Unprompted, Newk alludes to Hewitt's almost chilling focus when he says: 'He's a funny kid.
You go into his room and you'd think no one lives in it. Everything is put away. It's the 
neatest room you've seen in your life.' Hewitt has been saying no, non, nein, nyet, nada to all 
interviews. He has fallen out with every newspaper stable in the country. It sprouted last 
September thanks to an Age columnist's over-the- top assertion that he was "an embarrassment to 
tennis and his country.' This after the 18-year-old had just defeated world number two Yevgeny 
Kafeinikov to put Australia into the Davis Cup final. The nadir came in Adelaide, when 
questioning from The Australian resulted in the infamous "stupidity of the Australian public' 
diatribe. And en route to Zurich for the Davis Cup first round last February, Hewitt was outraged 
by an item in the Daily Telegraph claiming that he'd behaved badly toward a stewardess on a plane
- pure fabrication, says his camp. "The pity with Lleyton now is that he's gun-shy of the media," 
says Newcombe, who has kept an interested eye on Hewitt since he was ten. "He just doesn't trust
anyone. Some media people have it in for him. No doubt about it.' For someone with the 
sensitivity of a bar-room brawler on the court, Hewitt is breathtakingly sensitive off it. 
'I don't agree with him (for not co-operating with the media] but I don't blame him," says 
Newcombe. 'It's like Pat Rafter in '95-'96 when he got a bit paranoid, until he learned how to 
deal with the media.' So is Newk's advice to start dealing with the media sooner rather than 
later? 'It's not an issue that should be forced on Lleyton,' he replies. 'It's like: why should 
he trust anyone?' But the media-savvy Newcombe is all too aware of the fallout from frosty 
media relations. 'You can't fight the media,' says Newk. "That's always a losing battle.' Is it 
ever. When someone as young and successful as Hewitt comes along, people naturally want to know 
what's behind the competitive mask. With Hewitt granting no media access, the public is left to 
form its opinion of him almost exclusively from what it sees on the court. And at the moment 
people sus" that beneath that hard exterior is an even harder interior. Lleyton Hewitt's 
on-court attitude is the hot potato of Australian tennis. No-one wants to touch it. Peers are 
not prepared to comment on whether it annoys them. You don't knock the methods of someone who's
made it. Only whingers and losers do that. Because the Davis Cup supremos Newcombe and 
Tony Roche have supported Hewitt so staunchly, speaking against Hewitt is to speak out against 
the brotherhood of Australian tennis. Hewitt himself is annoyed that the focus on his antics 
has detracted from his achievements. His agent, John McCurdy, asks whether an interview with 
Lleyton would involve questions about his on-court attitude - or 'court presence', as he prefers
to call it. Whaddaya reckon? With Hewitt, its always been about attitude. He carried himself 
like a top player long before he became one. 'Them is a certain arrogance, which is good', 
remarks Darren Cahill, former world number 99 and Hewitt's coach since October 1998, 'and a 
strong belief in his ability. He knows where he's headed and he can't get there fast enough.
" It's Hewitt's attitude, his aggression and mental toughness that is integral to his success, 
that intimidates opponents more than anything in his game. When Hewitt's blood is up, he's a 
formidable, even unstoppable, competitor. So it's ironic that Hewitt and those around him are
so reticent on the subject of his biggest strength. Maybe it's because it's also his Achilles'
heel. Lleyton lore is littered with tales of attitude. As a junior, so the story goes, he once
sledged (okay, abused) an opponent so badly that the kid was reduced to tears. No-one we 
contacted claims to remember the actual incident but none rush to deny it either. It's treated 
as standard Hewitt procedure. "Fair chance of that,' says Nathan Healey, who was on the receiving
end many times as Hewitt's toughest junior opponent. Says another insider, who asked not to be 
named: 'I don't remember the kid (opponent) in that match, but sledging opponents? Yeah, sure, 
Hewitt's definitely done that." On an overseas tour as a junior, Hewitt was warned about 
excessive fist-pumping and getting in his opponent's face. When he graduated to the satellites,
the mean streets of tennis, Hewitt's reputation for "over- exuberant" behaviour preceded him. 
At the French (pen last year, while going down in five sets to an Argentinian journeyman, 
Hewitt was fined US$1000 for assorted obnoxious behaviour, including abuse of his opponent
It's believed "arsehole' was one of the terms of endearment. Weeks later at the
Queen's grasscourt event in London, Hewitt won no fans in the locker room for sledging the 
respected Frenchman Cedric Pioline in his quarter-final win. He branded a Pioline winner 
"absolute arse" and declared himself "the unluckiest prick here' when a line-call went against 
him. Cautioned and then warned by the umpire for verbal abuse, Hewitt was close to being 
defaulted.
 "He was winning, that's the ridiculous thing," says an observer at the match. It's believed 
Hewitt's display earned another word from Rafter, who warned him that quality practice partners
might he harder to come by if he insulted players of the calibre of Pioline, a former top 
tenner and Wimbledon and US Open runner-up. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Hewitt 
declared in Sydney this year: 'I never feel as though I've gone over the top.' Is he kidding?
Or is it that, as some claim, ,he gets so worked up on the court that he really doesn't know 
what he's saying? 'He walks a tightrope,' says Darren Cahill. 'Very few times does he cross the 
line and when he does we let him know about it. But it would he wrong for me to pull the reigns 
too hard." Cahill's right. Hewitt without the attitude is like a rocket without fuel. 'He's a 
bantam- weight playing against heavyweights so he needs to get juiced up out here,' Newcombe has
said. 'That's when he performs." Allan Stone, distinguished coach and commentator, agrees: "If he 
doesn't fire himself up emotionally, I don't think he'd be able to  compete with a lot of the guys, most 
of whom are around ten centimetres taller than  Hewitt and a lot heavier and stronger. He'll always play
with intensity. He shouldn't what's made him a terrific player with great potential. When you start to
alter what's made you potentially great, it inhibits you and you never reach the heights." Like it or not, 
the Hewitt attitude, the-in- your-face fury, works. If it were a serious liability, Hewitt would be a silly 
sideshow instead of the hottest player on the tour, as he was in the first 3 months of the year. A fortnight into
2000, Hewitt had back-to-back tournament wins in Adelaide and Sydney something no other player has 
managed in the l0-year history of the ATP Tour. The last time an Aussie won two domestic tournaments?
You're going back to the days of Laver and Rosewall. On his return from a one-month layoff (taken after
 he boosted his Davis Cup record to 6-2 @ February), Hewitt won his third straight final -at Scottsdale,
Arizona, over Briton Tim Henman. His 2000 record stood at a remarkable 20-1 - the only loss coming to
Swede Magnus Norman in the fourth round of the Australian Open. The 19-year-old stood at number four 
in the points race and seems destined to end the year in the top 10. In mid-April his 2000 record was 26-4. 
After the Davis Cup quarter-final against Germany, his record in that tournament stood at 7-3. 
Hewitt's fifth career tournament win at Scottsdale put him in esteemed company. Only a dozen 
teenagers have bagged five or more singles tournaments. Of the other 11, only Andrei Medvedev has not 
won a grand slam title. No less than eight of the eleven have been world number one. 
'His game's coming together," says the low-key Cahill. 'He's a counterpuncher who can attack from anywhere in the court. He can dictate the points, like an Agassi or Rios. A year or so ago, he was basically winning his points by running down every ball, and that takes a lot out of you. He's now forcing the play more. That comes with more strength and experience.' 'He has an aura about him now,' says Stone. "When players go out against him they know they're in for a hell of a tough time. If they're a little bit off their game, he's going to beat them. That's a great psychological thing to have on your side." Hewitt's other strengths are his court speed and unerring consistency with his topspin groundstrokes. "He makes so few unforced errors,' observes Newcombe. -He gives his opponent nothing. In that sense, he's in the mould of Borg and Wilander - it's so damn hard to win points against a player like that." Hewitt is also the owner of arguably the world's best topspin lob - a shot that requires sublime timing and disguise. So many times he has chosen just the right split-second to lob the grenade over his opponents' heads. His serve, though heftier than the point-starter of old, does not strike fear into the hearts of opponents. But Hewitt's ripping return does. According to the 1999 stats, only Agassi dealt with an opponent's second serve more severely than Hewitt. 
From his earliest days on the court, Hewitt has never lacked fight or confidence. Small and unimposing in stature (still under six feet - 182cm - and around 65kg), and without powerful on-court weapons, he relied on all-out aggression and mental toughness to intimidate. 'Our matches were fiery,' recalls Healey, Hewitt's old junior adversary. "There was always a bit of niggling going on. He actually got me going a bit. But with most people, it gets out of control and starts to affect your game. With Lleyton, all his aggression goes into the tennis. He's one of a kind." Healey, a year older than Hewitt and ranked in the 700s in singles and 140s in doubles, seems in awe of Hewitt's success and does not hesitate when asked what separates them. 'That fire, focus and self-belief is why he is where he is. That's where I let myself down a bit. He's always been like he is now. Always pumped up. Just oozes with confidence. He has never once gone on court thinking he can't win. His mental toughness is incredible, even now in the pros." If anything, says Healey, Hewitt is more sedate nowadays. He's more in control now. Darren Cahill has done a great job with him. He's starting to calm it down a bit. When he won Scottsdale, he went down on his knees but he didn't scream out. He's getting too used to winning, I think." Roger Tyzzer, who as South Australian state coach oversaw Hewitt's junior development, said of the 16-year-old Hewitt almost three years ago. 'You don't want to put the rnozz on people, but certainly if anybody's got a chance of being top ten, he would have it." An extraordinary show of faith in a player then ranked in the 700's.
 The one match that said it all about Hewitt's self-belief was his 7-6, 7-6 semi-final defeat of Andre Agassi at Adelaide in 1998. Hewitt, then 16, was still waking up to a poster of Agassi on his bedroom wall. He then went out and beat his idol, something akin to new Fl kid Jenson Button out- racing Michael Schumacher the first time he faced him on the track. "I was nervous the whole morning, I just didn't want to get killed,' Hewitt told me at the time. 'He was on a come- back and a bit underprepared. It was my opportunity against a former number one so I wasn't going to give it away.' Hewitt's unshakeable self- belief is etched in tennis history. He went on to defeat Jason Stoltenberg in the final, so becoming the lowest- ranked player (at 550) ever to win a pro tournament. Hewitt scored his breakthrough win at a younger age than either Agassi or Pete Sampras. The public may be divided but Hewitt has fans in high places. Newcombe and Roche love his unswerving commitment to Davis Cup - something that has been conspicuously lacking in Mark Philippoussis. John McEnroe has openly admired the youngster whose fire he says reminds him of his younger self. Okay, so a character reference from McEnroe is an oxymoron. Mac also said: 'If this kid isn't in the top ten by the end of this year, I'll be very surprised.' At Hewitt's Davis Cup debut in Boston last July, McEnroe offered his personal congratulations after Hewitt spanked the Yanks. 'The way McEnroe came up to him, there seemed to be a bit of feeling there." recalls Hewitt's father.
Pete Sampras gave a famously lukewarm review of the Hewitt game after beating him in August 1998. He revised his opinion after surviving a 4-6 6-4 7-6 semi final at Queens Club last June. "He's very impressive. He certainly has the tools," Sampras commented. "He's going to be around for a while."
Agassi has taken Hewitt under his wing as a protege, taking time out to chat to the Aussie whenever their pathes cross. Explains Cahill:"Agassi was impressed with Lleyton when he lost to him in Adelaide two years ago. Since then he's taken an interest in his progress." Agassi may also identify with a young kid with a controversial image. Meantime, Hewitt has the benefit of the best practice partner in the world. 'When Lleyton practises with Agassi,' says 
Cahill, "Agassi really lifts the bar." Where does Hewitt's hypercompetitive nature come from? 
Tennis insiders look no further than his parents. Glynn Hewitt is a veteran of over 200 games 
of Aussie Rules football, including a spell at the then-fearsome Richmond in the 1970s. Sherilyn
Hewitt is a phys- ed teacher and a former state-level netballer. Jaslyn Hewitt, 16, is a leading 
junior. The family is said to be very competitive and success-driven. Even in the under-12s, 
both parents would attend Lleyton's matches. Every one of them. 'He was the youngest there,' 
recalls Healey. "But he always had his parents encouraging him. They were pretty tough on him."
 When the South Australian tennis association held a talk for tennis parents about not putting
undue pressure on their kids, the Hewitts were a famous no-show. Asked whether parents who have
been successful in sport harbour high expectations of their athletic children, Glynn Hewitt 
replies: 'When they're young, it's easy to get results-oriented. But our focus has always been
on their development. We always played two years above their age group. If you were chasing 
trophies, you wouldn't do that."
 Dressed in freebie Nike duds and often found sitting in the front row, the Hewitts are obviously 
chuffed at their son's success. But they don't depend on it financially. Which means that Hewitt isn't 
saddled with the same pressures as Jelena Dokic. And unlike some other tennis parents, Glynn Hewitt
wisely left the coaching reins to others, notably Peter Smith, whom Lleyton describes as 'a bit like a second father."
Hewitt still lives at home in Westlakes, a nouveau-riche, beach- side suburb of Adelaide, with his parents and younger sister Jaslyn. The old games room is being expanded and converted into a separate 
apartment for the family tennis star. "That's his largest investment," says Glynn Hewitt.
Despite earnings of over $1 million in just over two Years as a pro, Hewitt doesn't own a car.
He doesn't spend much; at home over the summer his prized acquisition was a CD of 20 of his
favourite songs. Hewitt is a kid with simple tastes. A major ego boost for him has been 
training alongside the likes of Darren Jarman, Mark Ricciuto and Mark Bickley, who all play 
with his beloved Adelaide Crows. Glynn Hewitt says Lleyton's competitiveness is equal, parts
nature and nurture. He suspects that his son was profoundly affected by his initiation into 
pro ranks at the 1997 Australian Open. Llewitt was then 15, and the youngest qualifier in the
tournament's history. He played his first match on a packed showcourt against Spaniard Sergi
Bruguera, twice winner of the French Open. Hewitt lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 but was far from daunted.
"Once you're in front of a big crowd it all gets to you," he once told me. It's become the 
leitmotif of his career: the bigger the match, the better he performs. Jokes Glynn Hewitt: 
"The worst thing you can do to Lleyton is put him on a back court."
Davis Cup was but one highlight in an impressive 1999. In all but name, Hewitt was the number one Australian. He reached four finals, more than any other Aussie and won on clay in Florida. He dominated
fellow-Aussies 8-2 (including 2-0 versus Rafter) and won five of eight matches against top ten
players. His ranking jumped from 100 to 22. In a sure sign of an emerging champion, Hewitt 
registered very few bad losses. Only twice in 19 tournaments, did he stumble in the first round.
By year's end, only three players boasted a better winning percentage (71%) than Hewitt's: 
Sampras, Agassi and Marcelo Rios. Hewitt gets his next chance at a grand slam this month at the
French Open. As a sign of his new status, he's likely to be seeded for the first time at a slam.
He'll be keen to erase memories of last year, when he ranted his way to a five-set loss against
Argentinian Martin Rodriguez in the first round, by far his worst loss of 1999. "He let his 
emotions take over," admits Cahill. ,That was the reason he lost that match." And it was played
on a backcourt. That's cruel and unusual punishment for Lleyton Hewitt. END