A. PAVEL/L. Hewitt
6-4, 7-5

An interview with:

LLEYTON HEWITT

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Was it a matter of you today, or was Andrei playing too well? His backhand looked just beautiful today.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he played well. Yeah, I didn't quite take my opportunities when they came and, you know, didn't -- I served well in patches. Served a lot of double-faults.

You know, I just felt like I had opportunities early in the first set and wasn't able to capitalize on them. And then the same in the second set.

You know, then put myself in the situation of trying to claw my way back out of the second set. Wasn't able to quite do that.

But he definitely played well, though.

Q. Have you ever let a game get away like that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I let a few get away today.

Q. You did. But that last game?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, no, I gave him a few chances and, you know, it definitely should have gone to a tiebreak.

Yeah, there's not a lot you can do about it now, but...

Q. What do you feel you need to do?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I just made a couple of, yeah, unforced errors on love-15, 15-30 points on his service games halfway through the first set, where I felt like I really had an opportunity to crack the match wide open.

He's the kind of guy who plays a lot better when he's a frontrunner, I feel, when he's got his head up and he's hitting the ball well. He's a sweet hitter of the ball as well. So his whole game got better and better, and it got tougher for me to get myself into the match from then on.

I just didn't quite take my opportunities when I had, you know, love-30, 15-30, 30-all points.

Q. Were most of those opportunities squandered at the net?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, couple of times. There's a couple of long points where I came to the net and ended up, you know, missing , you know, not that easy volleys. He hit the ball pretty well. It's hard to volley sometimes in the wind as well when the ball's dipping like that. They're definitely makeable volleys, yeah. I think a couple of times I tried to do a little bit too much with him instead of just making him play a pass.

Q. What's special about his backhand?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I guess it's a very free shot, very free-flowing shot out there. He's able to hit, you know, down the line, cross court, he hits angles very well and he can attack off it as well.

Q. What's up for you now?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not sure (smiling). Don't know yet.

Q. Shopping with Kim?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Doubt that.

Q. You guys won the Davis Cup and then within months the process starts all over again, not much time to savor it. Would you like to see a situation where it's like the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup in golf where it's every other year as opposed to every year? What are your feelings on that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, I've spoken about it a lot. I feel that, you know, there should either be a bye for the first -- for the two finalist countries, make it a four-team World Group, or they should be every second year.

That's my feeling. I know there's a few people out there, and I think, you know -- I don't think it's great for the game that Australia obviously bombed out in the first round this year after winning it. Spain was very close to bombing out and they had their B or C team in. They didn't have Moya or Ferrero who played in the final, purely because Ferrero had played that much tennis. Was ridiculous.

I don't think that's good for the game. I don't think that's good for Davis Cup. If you want the best players playing every tie, then you've got to work out a situation that's going to benefit the players.

Q. Is Adam Scott a mate of yours? What do you think of him going into the final round of the TPC with a chance to win that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I met Adam at the Australian PGA in December last year. He's a great kid. He's a very likable kid. Yeah, he is a helluva player.

I've been watching a little bit, and I've got no doubt - I don't know what it is now - but if he plays the way he did yesterday, then he's going to be in pretty good stead. It's going to take a pretty good player to beat him.

Q. You started off the year very strong and you're in a bit of a rut the last few weeks. What do you think is going on with your game?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I feel like I'm hitting the ball okay the last couple of weeks . My first rounds both weeks, I played well. Against Chela last week, I thought he played extremely well, just as well as I've seen him play.

Still, I had a lot of love-40, love-30 games and I wasn't able to capitalize. Little bit the same today.

So when you look back on it, you know, you got to take your opportunities when they come. It's disappointing, but I don't think I'm hitting the ball that badly.

Q. Do you think you're playing too conservatively, not taking enough risks at times?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Maybe at times, but then a couple of times I went for it off his second serve and made a mistake, so...

Yeah, you could look at it both ways.

Q. Who do you think has the best second serve in the men's game?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. There's a lot of tough ones, I guess. Roddick's probably going to be up there. He gets obviously a lot of kick on it. He can hit it hard as well.

Federer's got a great second serve as well. There's a lot of guys out there that, you know, I think they have pretty good second serves.

Q. When you say you don't know what's up, have you planned your European schedule?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really, no. I was more, you know, seeing how I was feeling and just playing it by ear.

Yeah, depending if I go back to Australia or go straight over to Europe as well.

Q. You don't have to play Davis Cup until September?

LLEYTON HEWITT: No.

Q. Are you feeling all right, though, for the most part? You're not capitalizing on the moments, but you're feeling fine?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, pretty good. Yeah, you know, I've been, yeah, feeling pretty good in practice and feeling pretty good about my game most days, I think, so...

Yeah, it's a little bit disappointing, but, you know, I won't worry about it too much.

Q. Still a couple months away to the clay court season. Who do you like going into Roland Garros?

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, obviously the three guys that probably stand out are Ferrero, Coria and Moya, going on last year's form.

But, you know, Coria sort of popped up last year without anyone really knowing I guess.

Federer is going to be tough to beat on that surface as well.

There's always going to be Nalbandian, Gaudio, you know.

There's a lot of good clay court players around so...You know, not going to be too many easy matches.

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L. HEWITT/R. Soderling
6-4, 6-2

An interview with:

LLEYTON HEWITT

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.

Q. Can you describe what it was like out there today.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Windy. Yeah, it was windy out there. It was tough conditions, I think, for everybody. Just had to try and be patient and take your chances when they came and not get too frustrated out there.

Q. Were you having to make lots of adjustments out there with your game from time to time because of the conditions?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Just had to probably pay the percentages a little bit more than normal I'd say. It was hard to go out there and go for a lot of shots. I felt like I served pretty well considering the conditions out there.

Q. Lleyton, that was, I guess, a really good match to get going with in the tournament after the disappointment of last week?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was an awkward match more condition-wise today. You had to go out there. You just couldn't let yourself get too frustrated out there. It was never going to be the most pretty tennis, I guess, to go out there and watch.

Yeah, you got to play the percentages and play within yourself a little bit more.

So at the end of the day, on a day like that, you're happy to come away with the win. I was happy to get off the court before it started raining.

Q. That was pretty good timing.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, very.

Q. The lob, you played that superbly today.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I lobbed well, especially considering the conditions. It's not the easiest shot to play in the wind. You know, nine times out of ten, I played it pretty well today.

Q. Just on sort of a different subject, what are the advantages and disadvantages of playing without a coach like what Federer is doing? Is that something that you've ever done?

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's not really something that I've ever done. I think in '98 when I first came on the tour, I didn't have a coach for a while just because I felt like I didn't have anyone that I really knew that well, and, you know, I was just sort of waiting for the person that I felt would be the best at the time for me.

Yeah, there's positives and negatives. I think a guy like Roger, he knows what he's doing. At the end of the day, he's going out there, he's confident at the moment, he's playing his own game. It's not going to alter his game a hell of a lot right at the moment.

Q. What would the advantages and disadvantages be in general for a player of not having a coach?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I think a coach, more than anything, as a tennis player, because you're one-on-one instead of looking after a football team, it's more being a good mate and enjoying that person's company around the place and getting along with him really well, having the same interests. Whereas in a football coach, it's more they're putting the demands on you, I guess, a lot more over 25, 30 guys.

Q. The advantage of playing without a coach, what would the advantage be?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. As far as I know, he's got a couple of people with him like obviously a masseuse and a trainer and those kind of things, and I think maybe even a mate with him. So those guys probably fill in and book courts for him and do those other odds and sods anyway.

At the end of the day, tennis is a one-on-one battle. Roger obviously feels like he can go out there. He's handling it pretty well at the moment.

Q. Bearing in mind the conditions out there today, can you take a lot away from this? Can you gauge how you're actually hitting the ball?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Probably not a whole heap out of today's match, I don't think. But in practice, you know, the whole last week or so I've been hitting the ball well, ever since I got here.

At the end of the day, today it's just one of those matches you want to get out of the way and get in the locker room as soon as possible, I think, and come away with the win and, hopefully, it's not as windy tomorrow. But if it is, you know, or when I play next, I've played one match in those conditions, so at least I should be used to it.

Q. What did you do? Did you get out of Indian Wells as quickly as possible? Did you hit a couple golf balls?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, played a couple of days of golf then came over.

Q. Was it pretty much put out of your mind straightaway or is it something you thought about?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Indian Wells? No, it was out of my mind straightaway.

Q. Pavel in the next round. What are your thoughts? He's an awkward, tricky player.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he is a very awkward player. He played some great matches. He's an all-court player. He's got all the shots in the book. He's got a great single-hand backhand. He attacks well. He mixes in the serve-volley.

I just got to go out there and play my game. Obviously, try and finish my service games as quickly and easily as possible, and then I feel like I got a few chances on his service games.

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