Rd 2 MATCH : LLEYTON HEWITT vs. MAX MIRNYI
SCORE / RÉSULTAT: 5-7, 7-6(4), 5-7

WEDNESDAY 6 AUGUST 2003 / MERCREDI 6 AOÛT 2003

INTERVIEW WITH / ENTREVUE AVEC

LLEYTON HEWITT

Tour Official: Okay. Let's open it up for questions, please.

Reporter: Lleyton, is that a bit of an unexpected turn?

Lleyton Hewitt: Not really. Well, it was always going to be a tough match. You know, I've had tough matches in the past with Max and if he's serving big, then, you know, a lot of sets are going to go towards the end of the set and I just didn't quite I felt like I played a pretty good match for most of it, I just wasn't really on his serves as much as I probably could have been tonight. And then, yeah, he played good games to break me. It's disappointing, though, that you come so close and lose another tight one.

Reporter: How does his net play stack up against, you know, the best volleyers in the game? Is he pretty hard guy to get the ball by?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, I wouldn't say he is a natural volleyer like a Sampras or a Henman, Federer, Rafter, those guys. But his presence at the net is what wins him a lot of points, I think. He's very he's big to try and pass him, or lob him, whichever way he gets very close to the net as well. He sort of keeps coming at you and putting pressure on you that way. You'll probably get some more easier mistakes, I think off the volleys than some of those probably better technical volleyers.

Reporter: Any reason you said you weren't reading his serve very well?

Lleyton Hewitt: Not about reading, I just wasn't executing. I just didn't feel sharp out there on my returns. When you're playing a match like that you've got to be right on. You're not going to get that many chances to break, and I had a couple and then had a lot of love 30s and 15 30s and things like that. Didn't feel like I was sharp enough out there tonight.

Reporter: Is it a matter of lifting your game now for the next couple of weeks, next week, anyway?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, well, I didn't feel like I played that bad a match tonight. There's not too many guys who play like Max Mirnyi out there on tour. There's probably only a couple of guys who have got as big a serve. You know, I can definitely work on my return of serve and try and get that going a little bit better. But apart from that, I actually felt like I served pretty well for most of the match tonight and from the back of the court I felt like I hit the ball pretty well.

Reporter: You were a bit rundown earlier in the season and not feeling so great, we understand. Do you feel better now?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, I just felt like I needed a few weeks off after the Davis Cup. In Sweden, I just wanted a couple of weeks off and I didn't really feel like I wanted to go play those clay court events more than anything. So I started a little bit later.

Reporter: Are you 100 per cent now?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, fine.

Reporter: Did you not play anyone like him last week, Lleyton?

Lleyton Hewitt: Max?

Reporter: Did you play all serve and volleyers and this is the first time since Wimbledon sort of playing a guy

Lleyton Hewitt: No, I didn't play a serve volleyer. Kenneth Carlsen had a big serve and served and stayed back most of the match. And Bob Bryan had a big serve yesterday but he served and stayed back for 90 per cent the match as well. Me, I haven't played a real serve volleyer, I guess. It's different out there. I think the lights out there and everything as well. Can't say they're the best lights on court one. I just wasn't picking the ball up, as I said. I just didn't feel sharp on the returns tonight.

Reporter: How important at this stage is it to get results getting decent build up practice for the U.S. Open, which is more important?

Lleyton Hewitt: What do you mean, getting results?

Reporter: Well, the balance between getting the wins and getting the time on court playing well?

Lleyton Hewitt: Oh, it's always important, I think, you know, to go into any slam having that winning feeling and having confidence. Yeah, I've got a few matches, obviously five matches last week. And I feel like I'm timing the ball pretty well. There's little things in my game where I feel I still want to work on and still can get better at. You know, and that's where you've got to go down and work on it for next week and obviously for the big one coming up in three weeks' time.

Reporter: Lleyton, would you maybe rather be more of an outsider this year going into the U.S. Open than last year when you were defending and maybe more hopes? Is it a nice situation to be in?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, it doesn't bother me. Obviously, the year I won there was very little talk of me winning, I think. Especially at the start of the tournament I didn't have the best results on the hard court. I think I made a semi in Cinci, that was about it, going in. And by the end of it I started hitting the ball pretty well. Obviously, if I believe I can win it, that's all that counts.

Tour Official: Thanks, Lleyton.
Rd 1 MATCH : LLEYTON HEWITT vs. BOB BRYAN
SCORE / RÉSULTAT: 6-2, 6-2

MONDAY 4 AUGUST 2003 / LUNDI 4 AOÛT 2003

INTERVIEW WITH / ENTREVU AVEC

LLEYTON HEWITT

Tour Official: Okay. Questions for Lleyton?

Reporter: How much are you satisfied with your first match here?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, it's nice to get through any of these Masters Series events. They're very tough to win and obviously trying to win six matches in seven days, for me, it's more like six matches in six days, obviously, coming from L.A. and playing the final there. I'm happy to be through in a pretty straightforward match.

Reporter: How did you find the conditions, Lleyton?

Lleyton Hewitt: Heavy out there. Obviously, totally different conditions to Los Angeles last week, where I played last week. The balls are different, the courts are a little bit different. Yeah, I didn't have a huge hit yesterday as well, the rain and whatever and obviously getting in late the night before. So this is probably a good match for me to have under my belt, I think. Didn't take too much out of me. Plus, I got a good feel of centre court and the conditions out there, because it is a lot different.

Reporter: Is heavy good or bad for you? Heavy conditions?

Lleyton Hewitt: Oh, heavy conditions, sorry. Depends who you're playing, I think. Playing a guy bike Bob Bryan, they're probably pretty good for me. He would want the balls pretty light and jumping around for his serve, as well. Felt like he's got a pretty big serve out there, but I was having plenty of time to see the ball, which is a good thing. Depends who you play. Some of the clay courters would be awfully tough in some of these conditions.

Reporter: Lleyton, it's been a pretty interesting year for you. All that's gone on. In a tournament like this, if you were to advance fairly far and win it, would that kind of define the year for you?

Lleyton Hewitt: Obviously, the U.S. Open is a big one coming up. For me, I'm trying to find my game, and, you know, get in as many tough matches as possible before the U.S. Open. Yeah, not doing as well as I would have liked in the last three majors I obviously want to finish pretty well in the U.S. Open. I feel like it's a great opportunity for me. I've never really done well in Canada. So hopefully this might be the year that I can change that.

Reporter: There'ss a possibility that you might have faced Philippoussis, but he's dropped out now. So it's -- I don't want to say clear sailing -- but obviously the next round is a lot better than it could have been.

Lleyton Hewitt: It's never clear sailing. I knew Phlip was probably going to pull out any way. I flew over from Los Angeles with him. He was struggling on the plane. That was no surprise to me. Max Mirnyi is still there. I'm one and one with him, head to head. Massu, I think I only played him once and I had a very tough three-setter last year in Tokyo. So I'm not looking too much forward to that. Srichaphan is in that section as well in the third round, I think. And I'm not sure who won out of Nestor and Ginepri, but they're there as well. It's a pretty tough section. I would have said, on paper, at the start it's probably the toughest section in the draw.

Reporter: Lleyton, are the courts a lot slower here than L.A.?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, a little bit. I don't know about slower, though, not that much. I think the balls are probably slower. They feel a bit more dead here.

Reporter: Heavier?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, heavier, I think the conditions are a lot heavier, obviously, with the humidity and today there was just that sort of haziness sitting there. L.A. was sort of jumping a lot higher. The court was bouncing a lot higher. Pace-wise, this is probably a smoother court than the L.A. court. L.A. was a lot rougher court. Yeah, it's probably, you know, it's totally different sort of conditions and balls and everything.

Reporter: What were you hoping to do exactly today? You won pretty easily. Did every part of your game went as expected?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, I played pretty well out there today. You know, I wasn't going to take Bob easily at all. You've got to look at a guy like Bjorkman, who returns very well, and he beat him in the last round of qualis. I knew I was going to have to return well. I'd try and keep him on the baseline as much as possible, I guess, and I was able to do that. Mirnyi is obviously going to have a pretty similar game, but he will be coming at me a lot more. He will be coming to the net off pretty much anything. If I play Massu, it will be from the baseline, so I've got probably a totally different match to what I had today in the next one.

Reporter: When you look at your whole season up to now, how do you rate it?

Lleyton Hewitt: I've played some pretty good matches, I think. In patches, obviously. Wimbledon was, you know, a bit of a hiccup there, I guess. I've got to try and learn from that and try and, you know, become a better player because of it, hopefully. You know, it's tough to do at the time. But now we're on a different surface and preparing for a different slam. You know, tennis is a -- the good thing about tennis is if you lose one tournament one week, you have another next week or something to look forward to or something big coming up. You've got to try and focus as much as possible and work as hard as possible towards that.

Reporter: Lleyton, how did you work Karlovic out in your mind? Kind of a crazy match to lose to a guy like that, that whole situation. How did you come to terms with it? I'm sure it bugged you for a while, kind of the guy was out of his mind for a while and just had a winning combination in certain senses?

Lleyton Hewitt: Yeah, it doesn't matter how much I think about it, every time I think about it, I still wonder how wasn't two sets to love up. I have never had that many chances and not taken those chances before. I even had a set point at 5-4. And second serve, I missed the line by this far. Yeah, it just -- the first two sets, you know, for me, should have been maybe 1 and 2, 1 and 3. To lose that, after that, I only had a couple of break points I think for one in each set and he hit either an ace or an unreturnable. It is obviously pretty tough to deal with, I guess. You've got to try and get it out of your mind as much as possible. But then, you know, sort of learn from it as well and try and become even stronger through it, somehow.

Reporter: Any part of it at all to do with the perfectly fresh, brand new court? Grass on the first day, does that affect maybe your serve at all?

Lleyton Hewitt: It's hard to say. I wasn't struggling with it the first two sets too much. You know, he played so much better in the third and fourth sets than he did in the first set and a half. He was a totally different player. I think, you know, if I could have got two sets to love up, to come back, I'm the defending champ from two sets to love down, that is a totally different prospect. Whereas he gets out of that set in a tie break and you're settled and have a lot more confidence.

Tour Official: Any more questions? Okay. Thanks