March 14, 2006

An interview with: LLEYTON HEWITT

March 14, 2006
 

T.BERDYCH/L.Hewitt RD 3

7-5, 6-3

An interview with:

LLEYTON HEWITT
 

THE MODERATOR: First question for Lleyton.

Q. What went not quite right for you in that match?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He played extremely well. He was swinging out there. Yeah, he hit a lot of great shots, off both sides as well. It was very hard to get him behind the baseline on the court.
Yeah, I had a lot of chances in the first set. I was up an early break, had 15-40 a couple of times, Love-30, and didn't take those. When he got confident the end of the first, it got tougher.

Q. Do you think not being able to capitalize on those opportunities is more because of the way he was playing?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, a couple of points, I couldn't do much about. 15-40, he hit two huge serves to get out of that game. Yeah, it was another chance I had. I got into a rally. I was on the back foot, but I shanked the forehand passing shot. If I could have made him play, maybe I would have been up the break and serving for the first set.
Against the better players, you've got to take those half chances out there.

Q. Do you think that at any stage, he was playing very well, but that he just started to go off the board, maybe go away a little bit, especially the way you broke back in the second set?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. You know, I needed it a little bit earlier, though. Yeah, early on he made a couple of errors. I got the break early in the first set. But then there was a patch through the first set, halfway through the first set, where he hardly missed a ball. He was serving big out there. I just felt like I couldn't dictate play.
He's got a lot of firepower and he moves extremely well for a big guy, as well. I came in on him a couple of times. He hit some great passing shots as well.
I didn't serve as well as I needed to. That's something that I've got to try and work on, get the percentages up there and get the cheap points. That's when I play my best tennis.

Q. Where does this put you vis-a-vis Miami, your preparation, where do you stand?
LLEYTON HEWITT: There's a couple of areas I want to work on, get more confident with. That's just a matter of doing it in practice. But you still got to go out and execute it next week in Miami.
There's no doubt I would have liked to have done better here. It wasn't to be. Got to try and draw on some positives and work on the negatives out there.

Q. Your thoughts on Guccione, based on what you heard of him, for Davis Cup? Do you think he could step in, things like that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, well, obviously he stepped up in the Davis Cup tie. That's a huge moment for him. I think from what I've seen, he's handled the Davis Cup tie situation pretty well. He's a good guy that we've been able to hopefully blood into that next group coming through. He's still got to get on the main tour week in and week out. That's obviously the next step and the next goal for him.


 

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FastScripts by ASAP Sports

INTERVIEWS

March 13, 2006

An interview with: LLEYTON HEWITT

March 13, 2006
 

L. HEWITT/R. Schuettler RD 2

7-6, 2-6, 6-4

An interview with:

LLEYTON HEWITT
 

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.

Q. Schuettler seemed to give you all you could handle today.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, we've had tough matches in the past. Haven't played him for a couple of years. You know, I played him more when he was in the top 10, top 20 in the world.
He's a tough player, especially on this kind of surface, I think. Suits his game well. Yeah, he's extremely quick around the court. He moves really well. I just had to hang out there, you know, try and grind him down, I guess.
It was hard to hit winners out there for both of us. Just felt slow conditions out there, really heavy. The balls were fluffing up a lot, you know, after a couple games. When the balls were getting older and older, it just felt like it was hard to crack an egg out there.
New balls made a huge difference every time. You're using new balls. But it was tough to dictate play and I think both players were feeling that today.

Q. What do you think got you through?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. I played the bigger points well, but I really should have, you know, still got through in straight sets. So many chances early in the second set and just didn't take them. Just played the wrong shot at the wrong time.
Love-30, had a second serve. I went for an off backhand winner. Just small things that normally I wouldn't do, it gave him an opportunity to get into the match. Both of us, it wasn't like we were holding our serve convincingly out there. We were always having chances against each other. Yeah, he got his confidence up in the end of the second set.

Q. Are these courts slower than last year?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know if it's the court. I think it's more the balls to me. The balls just felt really heavy out there. The courts, whether they're a little bit rougher or not, which is cutting the balls up a little bit more, I'm not sure.

Q. What is your definition of a rivalry? Do Federer and Nadal have one yet?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I'm not sure. I guess they've probably still got, you know, maybe a little bit longer to go before they have a rivalry, you know, such as whether it was McEnroe/Borg, McEnroe/Connors, Sampras/Agassi, you know, these kind of guys. Yeah, purely because Rafael has only been on the tour for a couple of years. But if he keeps going the way he's going, and obviously Roger continues his form that he's had the last three or four years, yeah, there's a good chance.
But you never know. You know, there's a handful of us I guess just behind at the moment. If you keep knocking on the door, if there's a group of five guys, is that a rivalry? I don't know.

Q. You're saying they haven't played enough for it to be a rivalry?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not right at the moment, I wouldn't say.

Q. Haven't played enough big matches?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, not quite. You can't quite put them in the same bracket as a Sampras and Agassi rivalry. You know, played, I don't know, over 40 or so times, I guess. It's hard to say that just yet. They're obviously No. 1 and 2. It was only probably a year and a half ago everybody was trying to talk a Federer/Roddick rivalry. Where has Andy gone? Has he disappeared? I don't know.
I think it's hard to say. They're the only two guys out there at the moment. Andy is still No. 3 in the world. Nalbandian. There's a lot of guys out there. But if they keep going obviously the way they're going, maybe it will turn into that.

Q. Andy seems to be a distant third in that rivalry.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I guess a little bit. In terms of ranking, maybe. I don't know. You know, I know Andy struggled the last couple weeks, the last couple months maybe.
But, still, on grass, yeah, at the US Open I think Andy, that's when he probably plays his best tennis. So, you know, I'd look for Queen's through to the US Open, he's probably going to have a pretty good stint.
Nadal, yeah, he's going to be -- we all know on clay he's going to be extremely tough every tournament. On grass at Wimbledon, I don't know if it's quite a rivalry against Rog just yet on grass (smiling).

Q. Andy said he got obsessed with beating Roger and made adjustments to his game for that purpose. Have you ever thought of that, making adjustments just to beat Roger?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, a little bit sometimes, only because you know nine times out of 10, to win one of the big tournaments these days, you've got to beat Rog at the business end of the tournament.
Obviously, you know, I played him a hell of a lot at some semifinals and finals of Grand Slams there the last couple of years. You know, it would be dumb not to go through your mind about what you may have to do to beat this guy. So there's small areas.
But then again, you don't want to get too caught up in the fact that to get a crack at Roger, normally you have to win five or six matches to make the semis or finals. You're obviously doing something pretty right to keep putting yourself in position. Roger plays a pretty different game to everyone out there, an all-court style of game. Sort of a tough one.
I understand what Andy is saying, though, because Andy is obviously doing something right to make Wimbledon finals the last couple of years. But, you know, he wants to go that step further, and Rog is probably going to be there. I understand what he's saying, but you got to try to make yourself a better player no matter who's at the other end.

Q. Did you feel in control of that match the whole way today or were you concerned at any point?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I felt in control. I mean, you know, I felt like I had a lot of Love-30 games, even when I lost the second set. I felt like I just gave him a little bit of the momentum there halfway through the second set. Before that, I felt like I was having all those half chances and wasn't able to take them.
I thought it was a matter of time before I'd get the break. But the game I ended up breaking in the third set, he was 40-Love up on his serve and I got back. You know, it was hard to hold serve out there today.

Q. Agassi plays Haas tonight. Who would you say is favored to win that one?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't know. Andre obviously hasn't played a lot of tennis since the US Open. Tommy Haas played a lot. He's won two tournaments, played extremely well in the Australian summer. I'm not sure. I know they've had some tough matches on hard courts the last three or four years. Both great ball-strikers. Could go either way.

Q. What does the wind today like this tell you about your game?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not a lot today (smiling). I get through to have another crack and try to improve tomorrow. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I feel like I can go out there.
I got through today's match, but it wasn't the prettiest tennis. Hopefully I can pick up on it tomorrow. I'll need to.

Q. What do you make of the sort of Borg auctioning off his trophy issues? Andy and Jimmy Connors said Wimbledon should buy the trophies, put them in a museum. Andre said maybe people should get together to buy them. What are your views?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I hadn't really thought about it. When I heard about it, it was pretty disappointing purely because, you know, the guy did so much for tennis, and for that tournament in particular.
But when I heard about Jimmy Connors' thoughts, I thought that was a bloody good idea. I think if Borg can't have them, then I think it would be fantastic for the Wimbledon tournament to have it in their museum. I think that's the next best thing. Whether one day he'd be able to get them back from Wimbledon, then I think that's the right decision to do.
You know, it's hard for Wimbledon to come out, you wouldn't expect this kind of thing to happen either. Yeah, it's a different situation. But, you know, if there's some way that it could happen, that it could stay in the museum at Wimbledon, I think it would be great.

Q. Would you get on board and be part of the group to buy the trophies?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't know, I haven't even thought about it. Thanks for that. I hadn't even thought about it (smiling). I might take one and put it next to mine (laughter).
No, I don't know. Yeah, I guess it's something you'd think about. I'm not quite sure what Bjorn's situation is, how long it could take to get him back. It would be nice to see Wimbledon step in and try to do something.

Q. Where do you keep your trophy?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Mine is in Adelaide.

Q. In your home?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, in my house.

Q. How often do you look at it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I guess a few times. Not all the time.

Q. When you're serving drinks?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, it's not quite along the bar. A few boys would want to drink out of it (smiling).

Q. I know you've said in the past about the No. 1 ranking, it's a case of been there, done that, it's not the be all, end all for you. Generally speaking about the ranking, you don't want to be around No. 10 in the world obviously. Where do you really want to be suitably positioned? I know you have a lot of tournaments coming up where you're only going to be picking up points because of last year.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Ranking-wise, it doesn't really bother me. Obviously, you know, I don't really want to be sitting outside the top 10. But then again, I haven't played -- I only completed maybe seven or eight tournaments last year. You can't expect a whole heap.
But then again, yeah, it's always nice to be in that top four or five group. You've got to make semis or better of slams to be up there. That's what I look forward to. The clay court season I didn't play last year, and then Queen's I feel like I can do better there this year, as well. There are a lot of opportunities to pick up points for me.
But for me it's more about preparing as best as possible for the French, but probably more so Wimbledon and the US Open.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

PACIFIC LIFE OPEN
INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

March 10, 2006

LLEYTON HEWITT

            THE MODERATOR:   Can we have questions, please.

              Q.   How do you feel?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Not too bad.   Be nicer if the weather was a bit warmer.   But, no, it's pretty good.

              And yeah, it's one of my favorite tournaments.   It's always nice to come back here and get stuck into it; the surface fits my game here.   I've always felt very comfortable here.   It's nice to come back to a place where you've played well in the past.

              Q.   How many of these tournaments did you play in California, like San Jose that you played before you came here?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   How would you rate them or...

              Q.   Yeah, yeah, how do you rate your game?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Oh, my game, yeah, I feel like I got better and better, you know, after having three or four weeks off after the Aussie summer.   It was a matter of trying to get as many matches under my belt as possible before coming in to these two tournaments, these two Master Series now, so I'm pretty happy to get ten tough matches under my belt and played some good tennis.

              In the end, I started playing some better tennis and, yeah, I was pretty happy with how the body felt as well, which is definitely a positive.

              Q.   Is it harder year by year to prepare each year?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Not always.   I guess I'm fortunate that in December and that, I can be in Australia and get acclimatized to conditions, and that's when you can -- you know, it's not a long preseason in getting ready, but, yeah, I can do as much as possible I guess before the Australian summer starts.   So I'm definitely fortunate in that way.

              But, you know, you want to do enough work in November/December that you can just tough it out throughout the year 'cause you're not getting normally those seven-, eight-week gaps where you can actually do different stuff and work on your fitness and those kind of things.   You've got to really last throughout the 11 months.

              Q.   Lleyton, what's your opinion of the instant replay, how it will affect your game?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   I don't know.   It's -- probably see how it turns out.   I'm not sure whether it will be a huge positive or negative either way.   It will be interesting, I think.   If it gets the crowd involved a little bit more and stuff like that, it definitely can't hurt.

              Yeah, it's going to be different for officials, spectators, and players I think, so it will probably take a little bit of time for everyone to get used to.

              Q.   Have you played where they've used it?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   No, I haven't, no.

              Q.   Are you concerned that it might disrupt the momentum of a match if someone's calling for them?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Yeah, well, there's definitely -- I think you have to have those couple of challenges, there had to be a limit on how many.   You know, I think that's a good idea purely because you can't just keep going on every second ball so...

              I don't think it should be too bad, you know.   I've seen back home in cricket, you know, you have the third umpire for run-outs, stuff like that, yeah, it all happens pretty quickly.

              Q.   There really is no limit on how many if you keep making successful --

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   If you make successful, yeah.

              Q.   So you can just go on forever?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Yeah, we'll see how good the players are, won't you.

              Q.   If you're accurate every time?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   If you are, yeah, the umpire shouldn't be wrong that many times though, should they?

              Q.   What is your reaction to people that comment about your playing and going over the top and being an intimidating factor?   Is that a component of your play, your energy you put out there or --

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Just sort of happens naturally, I think, more than anything.   You know, just the way I -- you know, I'm very competitive out there in whatever I do and in any situation.

              So yeah, I think it's good to have a lot of different personalities out there and I think, you know, Nadal is very similar.   We're both at very young ages, very hungry out there and want to succeed and want to get the best out of ourselves.   And I think that's one reason why the two of us have been able to do it at such a young age as well.

              Q.   What changed in you like over the years?   I mean, you were as young as Nadal and you were acting similarly as one might say, but what changed through the years?   How do you see yourself now comparing to maybe five years ago when you were basically No. 1?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Not a whole heap, I don't think.   Yeah, I think, you know, obviously, you're focusing from when you come on as a 16-, 17-year-old every week is like a Grand Slam, and, yeah, after you get to No. 1, you win a Grand Slam then the focuses and the priorities obviously change and Grand Slams and Davis Cup were my highest priorities.   And that's what I was focusing on, you know, for three or four -- the last three or four or five years now.

              So it's basically you're working your schedule back.   For me it's been working back to how I want to play my best tennis at what tournaments.   Then I'll play as many tournaments that I feel I need before each of those to prepare as well as possible.   But when you come on as a 15-, 16-year-old, you know, as I said everything -- every match is life and death out there as well where I think you see the bigger picture a lot more and looking after your body and trying to have as long a career as possible in this sport as well.

              Q.   I suppose after last year we ought to be asking how the toe is?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Yeah, it's good at the moment.   It wasn't too pleasant playing, you know, the final last year the way I was feeling, but, yeah, something had to be done.   It was needling me for far too long and, you know, straight after this tournament a year ago I went and had a small surgery.   And yeah, it's feeling pretty good.

              Q.   Lleyton, after last week in Dubai you might consider Roger just that little bit beatable?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   When Roger's played in big matches in big tournaments, you know, he hasn't put too many feet wrong.   You know, obviously, last week -- I haven't seen a point of the tournament, but he was obviously, you know, in cruise control there for a little bit, 6-1, Love-30, and maybe lost concentration a little bit.   And that's where you go back to Nadal's competitiveness out there.

              Yeah, he's got a never-say-die attitude.   It obviously paid off for him last week.   Yeah, whether Roger is a bit more vulnerable, we'll wait and see, but he's still the man to beat.

              Q.   What's your opinion about (inaudible)?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   He's a good player, changes pace extremely well, moves well for a big guy as well, and, yeah, he's got a lot of fire power out there.   It will probably take him a little bit of time I think to have consistent, big results, I think.   But, you know, he's jumped leaps and bounds in the last year since pretty much whenever I saw him at Queens and Wimbledon, so he's definitely moving in the right direction.

              Q.   Lleyton, does your agreement to play for Australia and Davis Cup signal a peaceful situation between you and Tennis Australia and consequently on the Australian Open on the courts?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   It's always peaceful.

              Q.   How are you feeling then about the court at the Australian Open in changing the surface, because I understand the TA is talking about it?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Well, I haven't spoken to them.

              Q.   How excited are you about the Davis Cup now that you've missed one?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   It's good, yeah.   The boys did extremely well over there, so, yeah, they've given us a good opportunity to get through to a semi again and you never know.   If you get in the last four at the end of the year with home and away ties, you just never know how it's going to pan out.   So, you know, I look forward to the opportunity, but Belarus isn't going to be easy whatsoever.   They'll be some tough players and I think Myrni plays some of his best tennis in Davis Cup situations, so it's not going to be an easy tie for us.

              But, you know, I always love playing Davis Cup and look forward to the challenge yet again.

              Q.   Mark just said he's not available, 99 percent not available.   Does that surprise you?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Yeah, but Mark's got to get -- you know, he's got to get more matches under his belt right at the moment.   He's obviously had a sniggling back injury the last couple of weeks after playing a good match against Robredo in San Jose and, you know, I know he wasn't feeling great out there today on the court either.

              So, you know, I just think Mark's got to hopefully get some matches over the next few months and obviously just this Davis Cup tie come up after the first round pretty quickly, and if we can get through this one and Mark gets some good matches, especially on the grass, you never know.   Maybe he'll be a contender for the semi finals in September.

              Q.   What do you reckon between Guccione and Luczak, say, based on what you saw in Geneva or heard about it?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Yeah, I don't know.   It's totally different -- totally different match now as well.   Different surface, different opponents.   Either one of them, I'd feel confident with, but I've hit a lot of balls with both of them at different stages, and I think it's going to just depend on the week a little bit, who's hitting the ball where at the time.   And Fitzy will make that call closer to the time.

              Q.   You sound sort of like warm about instant replace.   Would you do it differently than the way they've set it up or --

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   I'm not sure.   You know, I haven't watched it close enough to tell whether, you know, it's going to be a major success or not.   Yeah, only time will tell.

              Q.   Something in the sport you'd like to see happen, something in the sport?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   Not off the top of my head right now.   I think the game in itself is a lot of tradition, about, you know, the way we play the game, and, you know, the system and the scoring and all different things.   And I think, you know, especially singles, I'd like to see it stay pretty much the same.

              Q.   Apart from the lack of sleep, how has fatherhood changed your game?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   It hasn't changed my game too much.   It hasn't changed my game.   Lack of sleep, I'm doing all right I think we got pretty lucky.

              Q.   Something about the Australian Open, it was a little tough, lack of sleep?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   No never lack of sleep, no.   I'm doing all right on the sleep front.

              Q.   How many diapers do you change?

              LLEYTON HEWITT:   I've changed a fair few.