TEN: ILIE SHOWS HOW TO WIN, HEWITT HOW NOT TO LOSE
By Louise Robson
PARIS, May 25 AAP - It could have been part of the show at the Moulin Rouge as Andrew Ilie
ripped the shirt from his back in an impromptu strip to celebrate his French Open first
round victory.
As he rushed to the net after his torrid five-set win over Swede Jonas Bjorkman, Ilie's
shirt came off and his red bandana and baseball cap went flying with the Roland Garros
crowd roaring its approval.
For Romanian-born Ilie, the impromptu strip was a way of pumping himself up after a
four-week form slump.
"I didn't pull it off, I ripped it off," he told reporters as he explained his
not quite Full Monty after the match.
"I promised myself as soon as I win a top match like that I'm going to rip my shirt
off and that's what I did.
"I wouldn't go as far as my pants."
Ilie, who checked with his agent whether the gesture would contravene tournament rules,
said there was a line between being pumped up on court and going over the top.
"You can't live off adrenalin for a long time but it got me through in the end,"
he said.
Ilie, who marked his successes at the Australian Open this year with a flag-waving
display, had to come back from 4-1 down in the third set before downing the 27th-ranked
Bjorkman.
He outlasted Pat Rafter's sometime doubles partner 4-6 6-3 7-5 3-6 6-3 to be one of three
Australians to advance to the second round for a match-up with Argentinian Martin
Rodriguez, who was too tough for Adelaide's Lleyton Hewitt.
In a somewhat less appealing display than Ilie's antics, Hewitt launched his racquet
towards the net at the end of a match marked by petulant behaviour and a verbal abuse
warning for the up-and-coming teenager.
Hewitt, the fourth-ranked Australian behind Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Jason
Stoltenberg, lost in a tense five-setter 4-6 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-4.
The 18-year-old took the first set, but the 29-year-old South American chipped away to
take the second and as he pulled ahead in the third Hewitt increasingly resorted to
on-court blasphemy and eyeballing.
He gestured at the umpires and even had a go at a ball boy before Rodriguez was finally
forced to complain to the chair umpire.
"I asked the umpire after he say 'arsehole' to me when I won the point but he's all
the time like this," Rodriguez said after the match.
Hewitt managed to level, then at 4-5 down in the final set, put three returns into the
net, saved match point and then, after playing his losing shot, flung his racket towards
the net.
Hewitt refused to acknowledge any problem with his on court behaviour and denied he had
lost control of his emotions.
"I thought I was controlling it pretty well and I don't think that had anything to do
with me losing the match today at all," he said.
He was not sure what he was actually warned for but said he thought the referee's
reprimand was "a joke" and said he normally played his best when he was
"pretty fired up".
"I didn't do it at the start of the match and then he started getting his confidence
up and I thought I have to get into the match somehow."
"It's nice if you don't need that and you can just breeze through your matches.
"In today's case I was two sets to one down and I thought I've got nothing to lose
now I've got to go out there and give it everything I've got."