October 21 2002

Lleyton Hewitt, the world No1 in men's tennis who is visiting the Swisscom Challenge this week, devoted some of his thoughts to the victims of the bomb attack Bali last weekend. Speaking through the Australian television station Channel 7, he gave the following message to the "Unite Australia" initiative: "Even though I'm not home in Australia my thoughts and wishes are with the families who have been affected by the tragedy in Bali. I know that all Australians have been touched in some manner by this event, as I have been. I have no doubt that all Australians around the world will come together at this difficult time to show how strong our country is."

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Hewitt, Serena to play Hopman Cup Oct 21

Hewitt to come roaring home

12oct02

NOW comes the hard slog to the line for Lleyton Hewitt. The four Grand Slams are gone but the "fifth major", the Tennis Masters Cup, awaits in Shanghai next month, writes JEFF WELLS.

There's two Tennis Masters Series (TMS) events in Madrid and Paris in between as he fights for his second straight year-end No. 1 ranking and all the riches and accolades that go with it.
It is Cups time and our minds turn to stayers. We look for the lean long-winded animal, all gristle. And it is Hewitt's staying power, rather than an explosive game, that has taken him to the top.

But he still has his doubters, those who expect him to burn out quickly. To them this is merely an interregnum. The Americans wait for Andy Roddick to push up, the Europeans wait for the exquisite game of Roger Federer to mature.

The ATP, with whom Hewitt is locked in a battle of wills over media and playing schedules, has to cop his success on the chin and hope that the frost thaws.

For if Hewitt does hold on to his points lead in the Champions Race, he becomes the face of men's tennis, its biggest investment, in an era in which the women have the marketing aces. No. 1 for one year could be an asterisk. Two years straight is undeniably history.

If it's not Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi, America switches off and waits for the Williams sisters circus to roll on.

But Sampras has put the gun in the holster this year and there is no certainty that he will carry on next year. And age will certainly catch up with 32-year-old Agassi.

And that leaves Hewitt and the unpredictable and often bone-headed, racquet-smashing, bimbo-flaunting Russian Marat Safin battling for the giant billboards of the future. And Hewitt is a much more stable proposition.

Holding the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai symbolises the game's global aspirations. It will be a glittering affair in which the world top eight will be paraded.

Hewitt will not only have to play well but also sit down with the world media, with whom he has such a tenuous relationship. If he emerges triumphant on both scores the benefits will be exponential. He will become one of the world's most recognisable faces.

Going into this week, Hewitt had 697 points to Agassi's 554 and Safin's 460, but yesterday Safin had made the quarter finals in Lyon in a tournament worth 45 to the winner.

Next week in Madrid and two weeks later in Paris the TMS events are each worth 100 to the winner. Madrid is on Hewitt's favoured indoor hardcourt.

At the equivalent event in Stuttgart last year he had a 17-match winning streak broken in the semis by Tommy Haas.

Paris is indoor carpet and last year Hewitt suffered his only first round loss of the season to Nicolas Lapentti. That left him going into the Tennis Masters Cup at the SuperDome with 723 points to Gustavo Kuerten's 771 and Agassi's 684.

Kuerten was hobbling with injuries and didn't win a match in the round-robin.

Agassi, who had been preoccupied with the birth of his son, won only one.

Hewitt went through undefeated to become the youngest-ever world No. 1, and only the third Australian. John Newcombe held the spot under for eight weeks in 1974 and Pat Rafter for one week in 1999.

But how would he handle it? It was a disastrous start to this year when, weakened by chicken pox, he was bundled out of the first round of the Australian Open. And his only Grand Slam win, at Wimbledon against unknown Argentinian David Nalbandian, was considered the weakest final in memory.

But winning the TMS at Indian Wells, making the TMS semis in Miami, the fourth round of the French Open, the TMS final in Cincinnati, and the semis of the US Open have set him up again.

Humble Hewitt Bows to Childhood Inspiration

September 07, 2002 08:22 PM ET
By Barry Wood

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Andre Agassi knocked defending champion Lleyton Hewitt out of the U.S. Open on Saturday, beating him 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, but if it wasn't for his conqueror the Australian might not be where he is today.

Hewitt may stand tall as the world number one, but when it comes to height the 21-year old from Adelaide clocks in at a modest 5' 11."

But so does Andre Agassi and that is why Hewitt had particular respect for him as he set out on his own road to the top. Even losing to him on Saturday was okay.

"I made the semis and can be proud of myself," Hewitt said. "There's no shame for me in losing to Andre Agassi in the semi of a slam. He's one of the greatest players ever to live.

"Because I'm not the biggest guy around and was never going to be, when I was growing up I adapted my game to the way he played.

"That really helped me out when I was younger. He knows everything about the game and has been around for so long."

Hewitt has never been faulted for the effort he puts into his game, and that is something he was able to pick up first hand from Agassi.

"I've hit a lot with him in the past and saw just how professional he is on and off the court," he said. "The practice sessions as just 100 percent right from the word 'go'. So I'm pretty hungry out there too.

"I don't go easy on any points. I try and hustle every ball down, and it doesn't matter if I'm diving over the hardcourt or whatever. I'm going to try and get that ball back and make the other guy play one extra shot."

Agassi became his inspiration, both because of what he had achieved and what he could do on the court.

In particular, Hewitt noted that Agassi proved you didn't have to be a serve and volleyer to win Wimbledon.

BIG MATCHES

"I looked up to him because he'd won so many big matches and grand slams, and I thought that I wanted to focus my energy on being like him," he said.

"He hits the ball so well from the baseline and never shanks a shot. He obviously returns extremely well.

"And the biggest thing is that he is able to win on all four surfaces."

It was that ability which provided much of the inspiration for Hewitt to claim the Wimbledon title earlier this year, an accomplishment that stands as the greatest triumph of a career that includes winning the 2001 U.S. Open and topping the rankings.

"It gave me a lot of confidence going into the grass court season," Hewitt said.

"That's one of the main reasons I believe I had it in me and was able to win Wimbledon. I was able to draw a lot of confidence from him.

"If I lost first round of every other tournament and you gave me Wimbledon this year, I'd take it.

"Whenever I go back there I fall in love with the place more and more. And, you know, Wimbledon means an awful lot back home.

"There's no doubt that in Australian tennis it's the biggest tournament of the year, and it meant an awful lot for me to hold up that trophy."

HOME GROUND

Not that he's writing off what he's done at the U.S. Open and what he still wants to do on home ground in Australia.

"The U.S. Open holds a very special place for me, being the first place I really performed well in a grand slam.

I made my first semi in a slam there, won the doubles there and my first grand slam singles title, so I hold that place pretty close as well," he said.

"And the Australian Open, I'd love to win that. It's no secret. I've been going there since I was 11 or 12 years old and it means a lot playing in your home country."

That will be his next individual goal, after competing in the Davis Cup against India in his home city of Adelaide later this month.

The Washington Times

World No. 1 may not have lasting power

July 22, 2002
Section: SPORTS
Page: C10

Patrick Hruby, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

He is the top-ranked player in men's tennis, a two-time Grand Slam winner and the odds-on favorite to win the U.S. Open. And he's only 21.

But is Lleyton Hewitt truly destined for greatness?

Or, to put it another way: Does Hewitt's recent success have less to with talent than opportunity?

Don't get us wrong: Hewitt is no slouch. He owns the best return of serve in the sport. His speed is unmatched. His intensity and mental toughness put most of his feckless contemporaries to shame (that means you, Mr. Safin).

At just 5-foot-11 and 150 pounds, however, Hewitt hardly fits the prototype of a modern heavy hitter. He looks more like the mini-mite Rochus brothers than Tommy Hass.

Consequently, while Hewitt's game is for the most part solid, it lacks an overpowering weapon - a whiplash backhand, a punishing forehand, shot-snuffing volleys, booming, demoralizing aces.

As a result, the tenacious Hewitt has to work his tail off for every point, every game, every set. Unlike, say, Pete Sampras in his prime, Hewitt seldom enjoys the luxury of an easy freebie.

In short, Hewitt is a lot like vintage Michael Chang. Only with more pop.

So far, that's been good enough to capture a No.1 ranking and two of the last four Slams (U.S. Open, Wimbledon). The question is: Will it remain that way?

Like the underpowered Martina Hingis on the women's side, Hewitt may be capitalizing on a transitional period in men's tennis, a wobbly era that has produced less-than-immortal Slam winners Thomas Johansson and Albert Costa.

Old-guard champions such as Andre Agassi and Sampras are fading fast (Hewitt blitzed the aging, exhausted Pistol Pete in last year's U.S. Open final). Meanwhile, the new school has yet to assert itself in any meaningful way:

*Gustavo Kuerten has the speed to keep up with Hewitt and the shot making to lash him. However, injury has sidelined him for much of the year. And outside of Roland Garros, he's oddly ineffective.

*Andy Roddick took Hewitt to a fifth set in last year's U.S. Open quarterfinals before melting down in the wake of a questionable line call. His shaky maturity has yet to fully recover.

*Tommy Haas was playing the best tennis of his career until his parents were involved in a major car accident this spring. He hasn't played since.

*Big-serving Roger Federer and baseline bomber Juan Carlos Ferrero have the look of future champions, but neither has shown the killer instinct needed to win a Slam.

*Big, powerful, agile and gifted, Marat Safin is without question the most talented player in the men's game. He's also the tour's biggest head case - a flaky, inconsistent, gutless spazz. In short, he's the anti-Hewitt.

Should Hewitt's rivals find a way to step up, the tour's self-styled Rocky will have a fight on his hands - and, perhaps, a truer test of his lasting significance.

In the interim, look for Hewitt's dominance - and our skepticism - to continue.

How to square the ledger

By Richard Hinds
August 25 2002

Everyone seems to agree that Lleyton Hewitt "owes something to the sport".

Perhaps it is time tennis officials started to make it clear exactly what that is.

As Hewitt prepares to defend his US Open crown, the vague notions about player responsibility - and the sometimes equivocal rules and regulations that govern them - have allowed him to play victim in his dispute with the ATP.

Since the letter of the law was invoked in Cincinnati and Hewitt was fined a seemingly disproportionate $200,000 (the size of fine reflected Hewitt's performance in the tournament, not necessarily the offence) for his failure to do a pre-match interview with a cable television network, he has blamed everyone except himself.

Hewitt has blown smoke about how certain tour officials are out to get him, whined that he has been vilified by the press and even tried to put a gun to the tour's head by threatening to play fewer tournaments.

This is not quite the dire threat that some would have you believe. Given that his commercial appeal has been limited by his on-court antics and off-court hibernation, Hewitt is clutching a starter's pistol, not a bazooka.

But he does have one genuine cause for complaint. Hewitt and the other inmates in the tennis asylum constantly hear that old line: "You owe something to the sport." What their parents, coaches, agents, the media and tennis officials themselves fail to tell them is just what that is.

So, for starters . . . .

- You owe it to the sport to talk to the media. And not just at the mandatory media conferences or when you are pushing a new sponsor because, like it or not, the media is the window through which your fans see you. Yes, sometimes you'll get misquoted or misrepresented - but probably no more often than you misrepresent your own motives or intentions by telling half-truths or outright lies in news conferences.

Yes, those reporters can be odious, prying creatures and God knows who dresses them. But offer them a strong mint if they come within five metres, open up a little and it might not be the most unpleasant 30 minutes of your life.

- You owe it to the sport to be a role model. It's a daggy term, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to escort little old ladies across busy roads or put on concerts for orphans. Not unless you're a saint, or Pat Rafter.

What it does mean is that you have to be five times more responsible than your old high school buddies because simple indiscretions can have outsized consequences. For you, questioning a linesman's parenthood or blowing .06 after getting pulled over in your new Porsche are hanging offences.

Yes, it is unfair. As unfair as the winner of a tennis tournament pocketing $600,000 and the nurse in a cancer ward taking home $25,000 a year after tax.

- You owe it to the sport to lose even better than you win. And we're not talking about the way Tim Henman loses Wimbledon. We mean showing that at your moment of greatest disappointment you are, publicly at least, at your best.

It matters because sport is supposed to breed people who would rather play their best game and lose than play their worst game and win. We all know it isn't true, but you can at least get back to the privacy of the locker room before breaking five racquets over your knee.

- You owe it to the sport to turn up. It says something about the state of tennis that the ATP had to introduce big fines and ranking point penalties to ensure players would front for some Masters Series events. Still, some would rather cite a bogus injury than go to Hamburg or Montreal to collect a guaranteed $10,000 first-round loser's cheque.

OK, golf is a lot less strenuous than tennis. But you could still take notice of the words of Peter Lonard, who will play the US and European tours this year then come home for at least three local events. "I don't think it's going to hurt that much, playing golf," he says. "That's what we do, isn't it?"

- You owe it to the sport to shut up. The media will give you the chance to pass judgment on anything from Elle Macpherson's pregnancy to the Bolivian tax laws. That doesn't mean you have to.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov's carping about underpaid tennis players ingrained the prejudices held against the sport and, therefore, hurt his fellow players.

So tell them that you think Elle should have stopped at one bambino if you have to. But think about it first.

- You owe it to the sport to chase down every ball. On this score at least, you have a great role model. Goes by the name of Lleyton.