Stockholm
Svenska Dagbladet 21.10.2002 **thanks Elina
Hat off for Hewitt
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SvD met the 21-year-old world star before Stockholm Open
Lleyton Hewitt is wanted. We saw that yesterday when world’s number one landed
to Stockholm and the Royal Tennis Hall. Autograph hunters and curious people
crowded around the court where Hewitt trained and on his way to the locker room
he was followed by photographers, journalists and TV-cameramen.
SvD was the only newspaper to get an interview with the world’s hottest tennis
player who already today enters the tournament where he plays doubles with
Joachim “Pim-Pim” Johansson.
- It’s nice to finally be here. Before I have been stopped by injuries or
sickness, says Hewitt who last year got 400 000 crowns fine because off late
withdrawal from the tournament.
What did it feel like?
- I never consider money when I make a decision. I really wanted to play here
and thought that the injury would heal. But it didn’t and I had no other
choice than to withdraw.
It says a lot about Hewitt. Many other players in the same situation have played
at a tournament and then after couple of games retired due to an injury, got
their start money and travelled home.
Not Lleyton Hewitt. He is a great fighter that probably doesn’t even know how
to spell defeat and he reminds quite much the old world’s number one Jimmy
Connors.
- That is correct. He always fought till the last point, loved to play in front
of big crowd and get the people excited. In that way we are surely same but
I’m still far from what he has accomplished.
Anyway, Connors was not his childhood idol.
- I loved to watch Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander. But I also realised that I
would never become a serve-volley player like Stefan. Mats was not that big but
he played wisely and I tried to learn to do the same way, says Hewitt who is
only 180cm tall.
Just like the two Swedish stars Hewitt did his break through early. He was only
16 when he in his home town Adelaide took his first ATP title (total 16), he has
two Grand Slam titles and became last year the youngest ever world’s number
one.
- I have had some fantastic years but I also feel I have paid the price.
Matches, training and travelling have worn out my body and that is the reason I
sometimes have had to withdraw from tournaments. In the future I’m going to
control my playing, I have come to a period in my career where it is most
important to focus on the biggest tournaments.
That money is secondary interest for him 21-year-old Australian shows also by
coming to Stockholm Open.
As late as yesterday morning he was in Zurich and could have quickly gone over
to Basel where the organisers of next week’s ATP tournament promised double
the start money (one million crowns) compared to what Stockholm Open offered.
However he took a private jet that at lunch time yesterday landed at Bromma
airport.
- I wanted here. I have long heard other players speaking how fine tournament it
is and then Jaslyn has always spoken good about Sweden and Stockholm.
Jaslyn is his little sister who has for couple of years dated “Pim-Pim”
Johansson with who Hewitt tonight plays doubles.
Doubles is something that the organisers nowadays seem to want to avoid but
evening’s match is at the prime time.
That pretty much says everything about Hewitt’s magnetism.
That kind of boom around a player has Stockholm Open not had since Pete Sampras
was there 1998.
Hewitt has same goal as Sampras had then: in the tough fight over the top
ranking to get all chances for new ranking points.
Yesterday shrank Hewitt’s lead to Andre Agassi with 100 points. American won
then the Masters Series tournament in Madrid (walkover against Czech Jiri Novak)
and is now only 43 points behind reigning world’s number one Hewitt.
By the way do you remember what happened to Sampras when he came to Stockholm
Open to get points.
Yes, he fell in the first round against Jason Stoltenberg – now Lleyton
Hewitt’s coach…
(Jonas Arnesen, translation from Swedish Elina Mäntylä)
Hewitt Falls in Stockholm; Hold on Race Lead Slips
Agassi now can move within eight points of Hewitt in the Race
Lleyton Hewitt suffered a setback in his battle with Andre Agassi for the
year-end No.1 ranking when he suffered a shock 6-3, 6-3 loss to Dutchman Raemon
Sluiter at the if... Stockholm Open today. Hewitt, who once looked untouchable
at the head of the ATP Champions Race leader board, could see his lead cut to a
mere eight points if Agassi wins in St. Petersburg this week. (Agassi lost to
Kucera)
Swede Thomas Johansson missed his chance to press his claim to a berth at Tennis
Masters Cup Shanghai when he suffered a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Tommy Robredo.
Johansson remains 63 points behind fellow 2002 Grand Slam champion Albert Costa,
who is in ninth place in the ATP Champions Race.
With seventh-place Tim Henman pulling further ahead of 13th-place Johansson this
week, the Swede's best hope of qualifying would appear to be to move ahead of
Costa at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris next week and claim the spot reserved
for a Grand Slam champion who finishes outside the Top 7 of the ATP Champions
Race.
But that won't be easy. Johansson would have to at least reach the Paris final
and see Costa lose before the third round. If Johansson wins Paris he will
qualify for Shanghai.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Sluiter: "I started off really well. I knew I had to go for my shots and
take plenty of risks. I did not want to get stuck in any long rallies because of
his super groundstrokes. It was to my advantage that Lleyton hadn't played a
singles match yet on the surface. Nice to win against the No.1 player in the
world. Let's see if I can repeat my performance in the next match."
Hewitt: "Hats off to Raemon who played a great match. He jumped on my
serves and played very aggressively often getting the first big hit in the
rallies. The conditions with the heavy balls and slow court did not favor my
game especially since my serve wasn't on today."
Dent: "Sjeng is a great player and I had to work very hard to make it to
the tibreaker in the first set. Once in the 'breaker I started to play very well
and not rush my shots. I broke him in the first game of the second set and that
was the most important game of the match."
Srichaphan:"This surface really suits my game since the bounce is slow and
high. I feel very confident in my game at the moment. My dad films my matches
and then we sit together to see what I do right and wrong. It's been a super
year for me and I did not expect to finish in the top 30 when the season started
in January. Tonight I will have dinner with the Thai ambassador. It's been sort
of a tradition at the international events to have dinner with the Thai
ambassadors in the countries that I am playing."
Arazi: "I am very happy to win my first match since the US Open. Today I
played a solid match and everything finally came together. Magnus looked a bit
sluggish out there but I will take every win I can get."
Joachim Johansson: "For some reason I wasn't at all nervous coming into the
match. Once we started I felt like I would get some break opportunities in his
service game. My serve worked very well today and it helped a lot to have gone
through three rounds of qualification."
Hewitt takes tumble
From a correspondent in Stockholm, www.news.com.au
October 24, 2002
LLEYTON HEWITT has slumped to a 6-3 6-3 defeat to Dutchman Raemon Sluiter in the
second round of the $650,000 Stockholm Open.
Just a week after illness forced him to miss the Masters event in Madrid, the
21-year-old Australian put in a poor performance which would not have improved
his mood as he tries to resist Andre Agassi's assault on his world top spot.
Agassi, a winnerat St Petersburg, went into the Russian event trailing the
Australian by just 43 points after claiming the Madrid title at the weekend.
Hewitt went down an early break in the opening set on and could never recover as
Sluiter recovered from 0-30 in the final game to win the opener 6-3.
The underdog began with a break in the second, lost it in the fourth, but
recovered quickly as Hewitt double-faulted to give it back, 3-4.
Sluiter went into a 5-3 lead with a love game and waited patiently as the
desperate Hewitt saved three match points with serve winners before
double-faulting on a fourth to lose.
"I didn't feel 100 per cent, but I've been getting better gradually,"
he said. "I felt right to play.
But I've got to take my hat off to that kind of solid tennis. He came at me from
the start. He was aggressive. He's had some of his best results indoors, this is
his best surface."
Hewitt refused to be drawn out on his looming struggle with the on-form Agassi
who has a simmering desire to end the year as number one at age 32.
"It doesn't worry me," said the Australian.
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, who beat Hewitt in Japan recently, thrashed
Swedish teenager Robin Soderling 6-2 6-1 to reach the second round.
The 23-year-old from Bangkok, a semi-finalist and quarter-finalist at his last
two ATP events, now meets Frenchman Michael Llodra in the next round.
Paradorn was untroubled against Soderling, the world's third-ranked junior and a
Swedish hope for the future.
The Asian ace broke twice in the opening set, finishing the job with an
untouchable serve. In the second, he broke the young Swede for 2-1 and never
relaxed his grip on the one-way match.
Paradorn finished it up on his second match point with a backhand winner.
Swede Magnus Norman's season-long come-back attempt sputtered as he crashed out
in his opening match, a 6-2 6-2 victim of Hicham Arazi.
Norman, who has not yet recovered the form which took him to the French Open
final two years ago and accounted for ten titles over the 1999 and 2000 seasons,
has now lost a dozen times since February in the first round.
Arazi now moves into a second-round clash with American Taylor Dent, who put out
second-seeded and defending champion Sjeng Schalken 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
Dangerous Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, a semi-finalist last weekend at the Madrid
Masters, eliminated Argentine fifth seed Juan Chela 6-1 6-3.
Number four seed Thomas Johansson was also eliminated. The Swede's 3-6 6-3 6-2
loss to Spain's Tommy Robredo all but knocks him out of the race for the
November 11-17 Shanghai Masters Cup, limited to the top eight points finishers
of the season.
- - -
Hewitt ousted in Stockholm
Thursday, October 24, 2002
www.supertennis.co.za
World number one Lleyton Hewitt suffered a shock 6-3 6-3 defeat by little-known
Dutchman Raemon Sluiter in the second round of the Stockholm Open on Wednesday.
Sluiter, a powerful server who plays double-handed on both sides, dominated
almost every rally and forced Hewitt to play defensively behind the baseline
throughout the match.
"I didn't serve well, and he returned so well, obviously I was on the
backfoot from the start," Hewitt told reporters.
"He was aggressive and you've got to take your hat off."
Sluiter broke Hewitt's first service game to take a 3-0 lead and then held on to
serve to take the set 6-3.
He broke the Australian immediately in the second set to take a 2-0 lead but
Hewitt broke back straight away and pumped himself up with a roar to take a 3-2
lead.
Sluiter kept his cool and held serve to 3-3, broke Hewitt to 4-3 then served
home a 5-3 lead. In the final game Hewitt came from 40-0 down in his serve to
deuce but made a double-fault on Sluiter's fourth match point to lose the second
set 6-3.
"I didn't feel one hundred percent out there tonight, I got better
gradually, but he just played too well on the night," Hewitt said.
Hewitt added that he did not feel threatened by world number two Andre Agassi,
playing this week in St Petersburg, who is closing in on him at the Champions
Race.
"I came from behind last year and won (the Champions Race)," Hewitt
said.
Hewitt had gone into the second round on a walkover after his first round
opponent Thomas Enqvist pulled out before the game with a shoulder injury.
SEED UPSETS
It was a day of seed upsets as Dutch second-seed Sjeng Schalken bowed out
against American Taylor Dent 7-6 6-4 while Frenchman Fabrice Santoro slammed
Argentine fifth-seed Juan Ignacio Chela 6-1 6-3.
Swedish homecrowd hopes were shattered as fourth-seeded Australian Open champion
Thomas Johansson and wildcards Magnus Norman and Robin Soderling all lost.
Johansson lost 3-6 6-3 6-2 to Spanish claycourt specialist Tommy Robredo after a
promising first set.
"Robredo played surprisingly well," Johansson said. "My first set
was good, the second was his. In the third I had some good chances but I got
tired, I'm not fully trained for tough three-setters yet," he added.
Johansson has been out of action recently recovering from a knee injury.
Norman was outclassed by an inspired Hicham Arazi of Morocco 6-2 6-2 and
Thailand's seventh-seed Paradorn Srichaphan easily disposed of Soderling 6-2
6-1.
Hewitt stunned in Stockholm by Sluiter
By STEPHAN NASSTROM
Associated Press Writer
October 23, 2002
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Lleyton Hewitt was stunned 6-3, 6-3 by Raemon Sluiter in the Stockholm Open's second round Wednesday, when three of the top-seeded players were eliminated.
Wimbledon champion Hewitt was joined on the sideline by defending champion Sjeng Schalken and Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson. A third 2002 Grand Slam champion also lost Wednesday: The French Open's Albert Costa was beaten by Adrian Voinea 6-3, 6-3 at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland.
``He just played too well,'' said Hewitt, who got a first-round walkover when Thomas Enqvist withdrew because of an injury. ``He came right at me from the start. He was aggressive. You have to give him credit. He's one of the best indoor players.''
The loss could jeopardize Hewitt's chances of finishing the year as the world's top-ranked player. He led No. 2 Andre Agassi by just 43 points going into the Stockholm Open.
In Russia, Agassi won his opening match at the St. Petersburg Open, getting past Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday.
Against Sluiter, Hewitt seldom looked comfortable on the relatively slow hard court. After winning the first set with an ace, Sluiter broke immediately to lead 1-0 in the second set.
``I didn't serve well,'' Hewitt said. ``I served a lot of (double faults). The conditions were difficult. I didn't suit me. The balls were heavy.'
Hewitt gets walkover Oct 22
Lleyton Hewitt was given a free ride in the first round of the
Stockholm Open on Tuesday when his Swedish opponent Thomas Enqvist pulled out
through injury.
In a rare instance on the ATP tour, not a single lucky loser from the qualifying
rounds had signed on by a 1230 local time deadline to stand by in case of injury
to a player already in the draw.
That meant there was no replacement available for Enqvist, who has been troubled
by a shoulder problem since the US Open.
Hewitt will now meet Dutchman Raemon Sluiter as the Australian battles to keep
his distance on top of the rankings from Andre Agassi.