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Lleyton Hewitt swapped his tennis racquet for a pair of football boots yesterday and the crowd went wild.

Ace Aussie rules, but only over blokes
Jill Pengelley
23sep02
IN famous centre-court style, Lleyton Hewitt double-pumped his clenched fists, yelling at the crowd to cheer him on. Before 20,000 fans, the world's No. 1 tennis player had just snapped a goal at the scoreboard end of the Adelaide Oval.

Over four quarters of yesterday's charity Slowdown III, one of the country's most famous athletes impressed with his footy skills and his ability to keep out of the tackles.

Like a greyhound racing a basset, he left stocky Port Adelaide legends George Fiacchi and Russell Ebert in his dust.

Erin Phillips proved to be another story.

The 17-year-old daughter of Port Adelaide great Greg Phillips dragged Hewitt all over the ground.

At half-time in what had otherwise been a lazy game – lazy handpasses, lazy tackling, lazy umpiring – the sweat in the Crows' change-room told a different story.

"She's one of the best girl footballers I've ever seen," Hewitt conceded.

"She reads the play better than I do and she seemed pretty quick.

"I'm definitely not the greatest footballer out there but it's great to be playing with people I idolised as a kid."

With that, it was back up the race for the second half and two more Hewitt goals to enable him to finish top scorer for the match.

When he wasn't kicking them, he was setting them up.

A handsome stab pass from Hewitt was converted to an easy six points in front of the Bradman stand.

A Crows fan, Hewitt once aspired to play football but at 12 chose tennis.

Nervous parents Cherilyn and Glynn Hewitt watched from the stands.

"I thought he played pretty well," said Glynn, who played more than 300 Australian rules games.

The score hardly mattered but at the final siren the Crows Legends were one point up on the Port Legends.

A minute before the siren, Hewitt was whisked from the ground, security having assessed that the crowd which stormed the centre posed more threat than four quarters of footy.

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Article from Ace magazine - thanks Kate

Football-mad Goran Ivanisevic and Lleyton Hewitt won the Wimbledon singles titles in 2001 and 2002 respectively, but it was a grass pitch, not a court, that got their juices flowing recently, writes David Law.
     Ivanisevic joined Craotia's 1998 World Cup semi-final team in October for a tribute match to retiring star Zvonimir Boban, and showed that his left foot is as lethal as his left-armed serve. Hewitt meanwhile cut a familiar, albeit differently-dressed-to-normal figure, racing round the home of his beloved Aussie-Rules team, the Adelaide Crows.
     Against a World XI that boasted Lothar Matthaus, Mark Viduka and George Weah, Ivanisevic beat Brazilian goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel with his first touch, and slotted the ball into the net. Though he tore off his shirt in
celebration, thankfully he didn't further damage his shoulder, and should return at thr Croatia v USA Davis Cup tie in Februaury.
     Hewitt was scheduled to play the reverse singles of the Australia v India relegation tie, but was given permission to play alongside the legends of the Adelaide Crows on September 23, after helping Australia to an unassailable 3-0 lead. "I'm definately not the greatest footballer out there, but it was great to be playing with people I idolised as a kid,"
Hewitt said. Briton will face more of Hewitt's ball skills, when, as expected, Hewitt plays his part in Australia's Davis Cup tie with the British in February.

photos taken by Robyn Lakeman - thanks Robyn

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