Lleyton woes baffle tour
By PAUL MALONE
14aug03

LLEYTON Hewitt will be hounded all the way through the US Open by a worldwide guessing game over his mystifying form slump.

Hewitt yesterday vowed his killer instinct would return at the US Open, which starts in New York on Monday week, after a first-round exit from the Cincinnati Masters yesterday left him short of match practice for the year's last grand slam.
The Australian, ranked No. 6 in the world, has now gone five months and eight tournaments since winning his last title in mid-March in Indian Wells, California. He said his legs lacked their usual drive in his 3-6 6-4 6-2 loss yesterday to Belgian Xavier Malisse.

Hewitt, the world No. 1 in 2001 and 2002, has won seven matches in five tournaments since coach Roger Rasheed was promoted from a position of conditioner after a split with Jason Stoltenberg in May.

A long run at the US Open would be the last opportunity for the 22-year-old this year to temper speculation on the ATP tour over "what's wrong with Hewitt?".

Hewitt is refusing to pinpoint the reasons for his fall from No. 1 and yesterday denied that factors included:

HIS battle with the ATP. He was fined 12 months ago for not doing a TV interview in Cincinnati and he sued the tour's organising body in a court action a fortnight before his ill-fated Wimbledon defence.

THE pressures of staying at No. 1 and winning more grand slam titles.

HAVING played only 12 tournaments in 2003.

A RESPIRATORY virus which has been a recurrent problem.

KEEPING Adelaide as his base, rather than moving to the US.

Hewitt said he had been let down by the physical side of his game against Malisse, ranked No. 68.

"I didn't feel great today. It was more my legs. Hopefully that won't be a problem in a couple of weeks' time. I know that when my game's at its best and I'm feeling physically 100 per cent, then I feel like I can beat up on anyone."

Australian Davis Cup coach Wally Masur said Hewitt would be keen enough to be a chance to win his second US Open.

"He can definitely win it. He's run into a bit of a wall, but I have enough faith in Lleyton as a competitor and as a problem solver to think this is a blip, rather than a slump," Masur said.

"I don't know the reasons why, only Lleyton would know. Is he tired from 3 1/2 years of playing year round? His commitment to Davis Cup is great . . . but there's no question it's hurt him."

When it was suggested to Hewitt he had lost his killer instinct, he said: "I don't think killer instinct is going to be a problem in New York. If you can't get up for grand slams, you shouldn't be playing."

Mark Philippoussis will also be short of match play in New York after crashing to American Mardy Fish yesterday 1-6 6-3 6-4.

----------------------------------------------------

Hewitt unfazed by rocky patch
August 14, 2003

Jason Stoltenberg backs his former charge to bounce back. Alex Brown reports.

Lleyton Hewitt remembers Rocky Balboa's upset victory over Russian giant Ivan Drago, knows the second-placed Adelaide Crows overcame an indifferent 7-5 start to the 2003 season.

For like his beloved Crows after round 12, Hewitt also owns a 7-5 win-loss record since splitting with former coach Jason Stoltenberg after the French Open.

And like Balboa, his favourite movie character, Hewitt has waged battles against larger, more powerful opponents in recent times, culminating in this week's opening-round 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to unseeded Xavier Malisse in Cincinnati.

Now, barely a fortnight away from the US Open, the former world No.1 will require a Balboa-like form-reversal - and a critic-silencing Crows-style late season spurt - to overcome the big-serving giants of men's tennis.

Want to bet against him? Stoltenberg won't.

"Anyone else looking in might be getting more panicked than Lleyton would be right now," said Stoltenberg, who abruptly resigned as Hewitt's coach earlier this year. "Really, it only takes one good week to turn this whole thing around. It's just that everyone is so used to him winning all the time.

"It's so hard to focus out there every single day. And I'm sure Lleyton's not hitting the panic button. He knows he's good enough, we all know he's good enough. He's absolutely got the game to come out of this. He was on top for 18 months straight and it might have taken it out of him a little, but he's still probably got the best wheels out there.

"Obviously, people see Lleyton lose a few games and they tend to panic. But every champion goes through a patch now and then - if he goes out and wins the US Open now, everybody will be saying he had a good year."

Still, Hewitt's preparation for the US Open hit a critical snag on Tuesday, when the South Australian fell to Malisse - his second opening-round exit since Stoltenberg's June resignation.

In that time, Hewitt lost to Sebastien Grosjean (quarter-finals, Queens), Ivo Karlovic (first round, Wimbledon), Wayne Ferreira (final, Los Angeles), Max Mirnyi (second round, Montreal) and now Malisse.

He hasn't won a title since March (Indian Wells). He hasn't defeated a top-50 opponent since May (Nikolay Davydenko). He hasn't played with the all-court tenacity that propelled him to an over all 286-91 singles record, career prizemoney approaching $US12 million and his former mantle as the world's top player.

"I'd probably like to have more matches going into the open," Hewitt told reporters after his early exit at the Cincinnati Masters, joining fellow Australians Mark Philippoussis, Scott Draper and Wayne Arthurs as first-round losers at the event. "I didn't feel great out there. I don't know why . . . it was my legs. I wasn't 100 per cent. Hopefully I'll be able to get my game right for the open.

"But grand slams are different. If you can get through a few matches and the draw opens up and you get confident, then everyone knows [what can happen].

"Look at Pete Sampras last year, and even the two occasions I've won grand slams - I've gotten better as the tournament has gone on."

Neither Hewitt nor Stoltenberg have publicly divulged the true nature of their split - Stoltenberg still wary of commenting on the form of his one-time pupil, now coached by Roger Rasheed.

And despite reports suggesting that interference from Hewitt's father, Glynn, may have prompted his resignation, Stoltenberg wasn't buying into the controversy yesterday.

"We're not in touch that much," he said. "It's not that we don't get on, it's just Lleyton is away working hard. I'm enjoying a bit of a breather . . . I was on the road pretty much non-stop for 17 years. At the end of the year, I'll have a think about where I'm going.

"The standard of tennis is as good as it's ever been, and certainly the best that I've seen it. The ball is being hit so hard and the pace is amazing. There's no question that big serves and big, powerful players are the way the game is heading.

"But then you have a guy like Lleyton, who is also getting stronger all the time, who returns well and likes the pace and the ball coming onto his racquet. I think he'll be back."

Davis Cup coach Wally Masur supports Stoltenberg's theory.

"People ask me, 'What's happening to Lleyton, what's happening to Lleyton?' but what a lot of them don't realise is that one or two points can be the difference in any match," Masur told AAP. "When you're not quite where you want to be, it just doesn't seem to happen . . . we're not used to it from Lleyton, but he's a champion and he'll come good."

----------------------------------------------------

Hewitt woes continue
By Will Swanton, Alex Brown
August 14, 2003

Lleyton Hewitt will use Pete Sampras's against-all-odds victory at last year's US Open as inspiration when he tries to arrest a dramatic slump to win a third grand slam title at Flushing Meadows.

Hewitt's ordinary season continued yesterday when he suffered a shock loss to unseeded Belgian Xavier Malisse in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters - his last event before the US Open starts on August 25.

Having fallen from No. 1 to No. 6 on world rankings, Hewitt is taking heart from the ageing Sampras's success a year ago.

"Grand slams are different," Hewitt said after going down to Malisse 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. "If you can get through a few matches and the draw opens up and you get confident, then everyone knows what can happen.

"Look at Pete Sampras last year, and even the two occasions I've won grand slams, I've gotten better as the tournament has gone on."

Hewitt has a 7-5 win-loss record since splitting with coach Jason Stoltenberg after the French Open, but Stoltenberg thinks his former charge will bounce back.

"Anyone else looking in might be getting more panicked than Lleyton would be right now," said Stoltenberg, who abruptly resigned as Hewitt's coach earlier this year. "It only takes one good week to turn this whole thing around. It's just that everyone is so used to him winning all the time.

"It's so hard to focus out there every single day. And I'm sure Lleyton's not hitting the panic button.

"He knows he's good enough, we all know he's good enough. He was on top for 18 months straight and it might have taken it out of him a little, but he's still probably got the best wheels out there."

Australian Davis Cup coach Wally Masur agreed that Hewitt would hit his straps again sooner rather than later, but admitted it was unusual for the former world No. 1 to be struggling during the US hardcourt season.

"I've got no real theories on Lleyton - there could be one reason for what's going on, there could be 10," Masur said.

"It's such a fine line. When you're confident and getting good results, you get a break point and smash a winner without even thinking about it."

On losing to Malisse, Hewitt said: "I didn't feel great out there. I don't know why . . . it was my legs. I wasn't 100 per cent.

"I don't think it is something you can say is wrong with me. Hopefully it won't be a general thing. Hopefully I'll be able to get my game right for the Open."

Of the other Australians at Cincinnati, Mark Philippoussis lost to 41st-ranked American Mardy Fish 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Scott Draper let Switzerland's Wimbledon champion Roger Federer off the hook, blowing seven match points in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (12-10) defeat.

Wayne Arthurs was easily beaten 6-0, 6-4 by Argentinian David Nalbandian.

Hewitt, beaten in the second round in Montreal last week by Max Mirnyi, has little chance of qualifying for the eight-man Masters Cup in Houston unless he fires in New York.

Masur hoped returning to the scene of his first grand slam win, the 2001 US Open, and the fast courts at Flushing Meadows would inspire Hewitt.

Hewitt takes ATP's hits and shrugs


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a year of feuding, Australian ready to turn focus back to tennis

By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer


MASON - Lleyton Hewitt sits down and offers an articulate, 20-minute peek into his soul. He is gracious and thoughtful, speaking sincerely about the sport he ruled the past two years.

Until he calls ATP administrators liars.

For a bulldog, the fight is never far. In an interview Saturday with the Enquirer, a rarity for the media-wary Hewitt, the fiery Australian made clear he is still unsettled by his battles with the ATP Tour.

Though Hewitt reached the final of the 2002 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, what endured from his last visit was his refusal to do an ESPN interview before his first match. The ATP's resulting fine and Hewitt's recent lawsuit have overshadowed his tennis, which has slipped this season.

"There were a lot of quotes from ATP representatives that were just lies, basically," he said. "That was the biggest problem I had about the whole thing: People who had absolutely nothing to do with it and had no idea about the situation and in the end were just pretty much lying."

Meanwhile, cracks in Hewitt's legendary intensity are showing. He has burned through two coaches, suffered a historic first-round upset at Wimbledon and seen his ranking fall to No. 5.

As he prepares here for the tournament beginning Monday, he isn't talking of regaining the top spot.

"It's not something that's high on the priority list," he said. "That's something I'll put my mind to next year."

Hewitt was fined $106,000 here last year, but that was reduced to $20,000 upon appeal. His $1.5 million lawsuit claims the ATP damaged his reputation. It also claims, according to documents obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, that officials attempted to trick Hewitt into signing papers refusing to take a drug test.

The ATP says the suit is without merit.

"I think it's hurting him," NBC analyst Bud Collins said of the suit. "He's not playing well."

The tour's stance was that Hewitt had an obligation to do the interview and didn't. The request had been made a week earlier.

"You'd prefer to never have infractions, but I think the staff felt that there's enough of a history here and enough was enough," ATP CEO Mark Miles said at the time.

Hewitt isn't unwilling to give of his time. He's an international ambassador for Special Olympics and started his own tennis camp to develop youth tennis in Australia.

He just doesn't like being told to do something.

"Sometimes people are writing that we don't do enough, but a lot of the top players have things outside what the tour tries to get them to do," Hewitt said.

At home, in addition to his charity work, Hewitt is appreciated for his devotion to Davis Cup play.

But his brash style has grated on many Australian fans. He has been fined for using foul language on court and for calling a chair umpire at the French Open "spastic." He abused his hometown crowd in Adelaide for booing him, saying, "That's just the stupidity of the Australian public."

The low point happened while playing James Blake at the 2001 U.S. Open, when Hewitt made a comment to an umpire that was interpreted by some as racist.

Australian columnists have nicknamed him Satan Hewitt, labeling him "appalling," "graceless" and "an embarrassment to tennis and Australia." He no longer speaks with them and only rarely grants interviews that aren't mandatory.

"He's very unprofessional, unfortunately," Collins said. "It's too bad, because he's not a bad kid if you get him alone."

Said Hewitt: "There are people who write articles and look for the negative aspects. I think the public (perception) is pretty good. The Australian public knows I'm doing good things for tennis and for Australian sport."

By age 20, Hewitt had achieved the tennis triumvirate of winning a Grand Slam event, the Davis Cup and becoming world No. 1, the youngest ever to do so.

But he lost his Wimbledon first-round match this year to 203rd-ranked Ivo Karlovic, and never had a defending men's champion lost so early to so lowly an opponent.

When a No. 1 player is suddenly No. 5, it'll be called a slump. Hewitt knows there's a quick way to cease that.

"I'm just going to try everything in my power to win the U.S. Open this year," he said. "I believe I'm good enough to do it."

---

E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com