INTERVIEWS
An interview with:
LLEYTON HEWITT
March 20, 2005
Q. It comes down to the third set breaker, then halfway through you really kind
of stepped it up and took it from him. Talk about that, and the match overall.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Any time you play a third-set tiebreaker, it's a lucky door
prize a little bit. You have to go out there, try to get off to a pretty good
start. We were both able to do that.
I just felt like I dictated play, you know, when I needed to; I hustled when I
needed to; I got those extra balls back when I needed to. You know, under the
circumstances I played a pretty good tiebreak, I think.
The match as it was, he served extremely well. Had a lot of opportunities to
break out there tonight. I think the first four or five early in the third set,
he hit aces on every one of them. He really didn't give me too many
opportunities on second serves. I don't know what the stats were, but I felt
like on most of his second serves, I was, you know, winning the majority of the
points out there tonight.
So, you know, I was waiting for my opportunities on the big points, and to his
credit he came up with some big serves.
Q. He also talked about your general improvement over all, the last couple
years. When you slipped a little bit, you went back and worked on your game.
Your forehand, serve and volley are better. Do you feel that way, that you're an
improved player from two years ago to now?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think I'm definitely playing a lot
better. I think the game's probably changed. You know, it always changes. You
know, I think especially Roger has taken it to a new level. That's the
motivation to try to stay up in the top few guys in the world. You know, I felt
like with Roger Rasheed and myself, we worked extremely hard, you know,
especially probably the end of - what is it now - 2003, I think. Yeah, 2003.
I've worked extremely hard to try to get back in 2004. I was able to do that. I
had probably as consistent a year as I've ever had last year.
You know, I'm happy with where my game's at right at the moment. Taking the best
players to play their best tennis to beat me, I think, nearly every week now.
That's all I can really put on the table.
Q. You played well in a lot of big events, reached the finals. How important is
it for you to get over the top and get this title?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, it's always nice to win titles. But, yeah, I'd swap it
for the Aussie Open (smiling).
Yeah, it's big matches. The guys that I've lost to in the last few finals,
obviously Roger has been in most of them, and Marat in the Aussie Open, you
know, they've had to play some scary tennis to beat me. If I go out there and
put myself on the line every time, then your chances are going to come.
But, you know, I can go out there, in all those matches I've played good tennis.
It's not like I've played poorly. It's taken a hell of a player to beat me every
time.
Q. Talk about Roger a little more. Last year, played him tough a few times. The
last few times, he's gotten you pretty good. What type of tennis are you going
to have to bring to the court? Are you going to have to switch up a little bit?
Is he going to have to be down a little bit? I'm sure you talked about it with
Roger Rasheed a number of times, how you're going to get over Roger Federer if
he's playing at his top level.
LLEYTON HEWITT: He's always going to be a tough player to beat. His serve, he
sets up the points so well for his game. He gets a high percentage of first
serves in and sets it up so he can dictate play with his forehand. He's a great
all-court player. He's moving exceptionally well the last year and a half, as
well as anyone, I think.
Yeah, you got to try to dictate play as much as possible. Obviously his
backhand, you know, is his weaker wing. But then again, that's improved out of
sight in the last two years, as well.
I've got to go out there and play my game and try and make him play a lot of
balls. But, you know, it's never going to be easy against Rog.
Q. Can you talk about the format, best-of-five, after playing best-of-three the
whole way?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's a bit different. Yeah, it's a different from any time
I've made the finals here in the past, it's always been best-of-three. I'm not
sure why it's changed this year.
Q. There's consistency and there's consistency. Guys like Rogers and Andys of
this world, sometime go for a bonehead shot. You never seem to make a bad
decision on the tennis court.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know about that (smiling). Oh, I make a few. Maybe
they're just not quite as obvious as those guys'. But, yeah.
Q. Can you talk about Roger's (Rasheed) impact? He seems to be able to think
outside the box, has an athletic background.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he does -- he's been awesome not only with me on-court,
but off-court thinking, as well, for me. Physically, you know, we come both from
an Australian Rules football background. That's a lot more of the training we do
rather than, you know, tennis training - or the typical tennis training, I
guess, which I prefer a lot more. I think it suits me a lot more.
But mindset-wise he's put a lot of hours into watching a lot of the game I think
over the last year and a half. He knows it as well as anyone.
Q. You played Pete Sampras here in some big matches. You prevailed. What are the
similarities in the game between Pete and Roger that you see?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, they're both awesome athletes, I think both of them. You
know, both got great serves. Pete was probably a little bit bigger serve. But
Roger's is more placement for his game. Different kind of forehands from the
back of the court. Roger's has got a lot more spin, probably a lot heavier,
whereas Pete's is a more flat kind of forehand. Slice backhand, match and match.
Topspin backhand, I'd probably give the edge to Federer. But both great movers
around the court. I think both of them didn't get enough credit for their
movement.
Q. Andy thinks that he has improved even since Australia. You played him in the
semis. Could you see that tonight? Were there obvious improvements he made?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know, for three sets in Australia, he played pretty
well. It was only in the fourth set that he sort of fell away a bit. Up till
then, he served big. Couple of tiebreaks in the second and third set that, you
know, he was going for ridiculous second serves. You know, I was just playing
the percentages once again, waiting for it to fall off.
Here tonight, yeah, he definitely served his first serve a lot better. But, then
again, yeah, it's hard to say because his strength is still his serve and his
big forehand. But then again, he didn't break my serve once. He broke it once
for the whole match, for three long sets. Depends which area you're pinpointing.
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INTERVIEWS March 16 4th rd. Indian Wells
An interview with:
LLEYTON HEWITT
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.
Q. Surprisingly easy for you today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was. You know, I played him once before on clay at
the French Open. We had a tough four-set match. You
know, I know he had a long match yesterday. But, you know, I just tried to get
off to a good start out there today and tried to dictate play.
Yeah, we had a few tight games especially early on in the match that could
have gone either way. You know, I just seemed to play the big points better than
him early.
Q. Do you pay attention to scores? Do you know if someone had a tough match
the night before, does that change your strategy?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. Especially a best-of-three set match. It
shouldn't really worry you. All these guys, he's an extremely fit player anyway.
He's been brought up on clay. He won the Davis Cup tie
for them last week in France. You know, he's a gutsy
competitor. He just made a lot of errors out there today.
I felt like I was dictating play well from the back of the court.
Q. Are matches against Andre still kind of special for you or is it
just another match?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I probably look at it as another match more than anything.
You know you're playing one of the greats down the other end. But, you know, the
end of day, it's still just another match and you got to go out there and focus
on your game more than anything.
You know going out there to play Andre, it's going
to be a battle every time you step out on the court. I know that.
Q. A few years since you and Darren parted company, but when you
play Andre, do you sense Killer's input when you're lining up
against him?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Me personally, I don't notice a huge difference in
Andre's game, you know, from when he was with
Gilbert. I played him here back in 2000, 2001 maybe, in the semis,
I think. I lost to him in three sets there.
Andre's just been such a great ball striker. He
knows what he's doing pretty much out there on the court. You know, there could
be little stuff, but it's not like Darren can change
Andre to become a serve-volleyer like he played. You
know, there may be times during a match that we don't realize that he might have
helped Andre in certain areas, and I'm sure he has.
But, you know, overall Andre's just a great player
with his own game. I don't think he worries too much -- he really doesn't have
to change a whole heap.
Q. When you get to the very top of the game like yourself or Andre
or Roger, how much of an input does the coach have in the game?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, when you get out on the court, there's not a whole heap
the coach can do. You're out there. You're doing it. But, you know, obviously
off the court, little areas, probably more so in practice weeks and stuff like
that, that is probably the most important for me I think.
But, you know, a coach on the tour I think has to be a good mate, as well,
not just a tennis coach purely because you're so one-on-one. It's not like a
football team where they're looking after 40-odd guys. It's one-on-one. You've
got to travel and be able to put up with that person's company the whole time.
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