Miami Masters Series  2008

Rd 2

J. ACASUSO/L. Hewitt

6‑3, 7‑6

An interview with:

LLEYTON HEWITT


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It was pretty clear pro Argentine environment. Is it tough playing in that sort of environment?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, no, not too bad. It was, yeah, didn't really bother me. I've played in a lot worse, I think.

Q. What do you think went wrong today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, I just couldn't quite move properly. You know, I've been battling a little bit of an injury since I lost to Fish last week.
So, yeah, I went out there and I tried, and just couldn't quite compete the way that I wanted to.

Q. Are the crowds different in Miami? Certainly you have a lot of Argentines. You have a lot of nationalities represented. Is it different down here?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, a little bit. I guess a little bit different. If you play Indian Wells or Vegas, obviously, if you play the Americans, there's a lot more American pulling, I guess.
There's a lot more South American, probably, down here.

Q. Lleyton, what is the injury?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Just got a bit of a hip strain at the moment, I think. So suffered against Fish last week, and, yeah, I mean, I've been battling it ever since. I tried to do everything to get in shape to be ready today, but it wasn't quite there.

Q. Do you know exactly what it is?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not exactly, no.

Q. And is it a case of just having to rest it or what?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, you know. With a few days off after I lost to Fish in Indian Wells it started to respond a little bit better. I thought it was going to be right, and then as soon as I practiced here for the first time I went backwards again.
So, yeah, it was more I was just trying to maintenance, basically, and get as much treatment as possible in the last couple of days. I didn't hit yesterday to try to be right for today, but that's how it goes.

Q. Bearing that in mind, were you still a bit satisfied with the way you were actually managing to move and hit the ball today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I didn't feel my footwork was great today, and that's what lost me the match, I think.
Yeah, I just wasn't quite able to twist my body the way that I would have liked to. You know, I wasn't able to run down as many balls as I would have wanted to, especially against a guy like that.
I felt like I knew how to play him. I beat him pretty convincingly in Adelaide earlier this year. So, you know, I was more trying to go out there and, you know, hang in there.
I nearly turned things around in the end by just hanging in there. I had two set points in the second set, and he did a lob on the line on the first one, and then an ace on the second. So if I could have won that second set, you never know what might have happened.

Q. Yeah, I was going to ask you, with those set points if you had won that second set and with the injury, any idea on how you would have stood up to that third set?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was gradually getting a little bit worse. I'm not sure how it would have gone, but I was starting to hang in a few more points. Obviously the tight situations were putting a little more pressure on him as well.

Q. What do you think you'll do now?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not sure.

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