Hewitt wins Sydney International
By DENNIS PASSA, Associated Press Writer
January 15, 2005

AP - Jan 14, 11:05 pm EST

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia won the Sydney International for the fourth time in six years Saturday, beating Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-0 in the Australian Open tuneup event.

Hewitt, also the tournament winner in 2000, 2001 and 2004, has won 20 straight matches in the event. He has lost only one career match at the Sydney International Tennis Center, falling to Max Mirnyi in the first round of the 2000 Olympics.

In the all-Australian women's final, sixth-seeded Alicia Molik beat Samantha Stosur 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5. Later Saturday, Australia's Todd Woodbridge and India's Mahesh Bhupathi faced Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in the doubles final.

The Australian Open begins Monday in Melbourne.

Hewitt raced to a 5-0 lead, but Minar rallied to tie it at 5.

``It was a strange match ... momentum swings,'' Hewitt said. ``I felt like I came out of the blocks extremely well, but then he loosened up a bit. When he got back to 5-5, I had to try to settle down and take it up a notch, and I was able to do that.''

Hewitt has won 24 ATP Tour titles.

``I wasn't doing anything special,'' Minar said. ``He (Hewitt) was playing some bad shots.''

Hewitt wins fourth title

15jan05

RECORD-SETTING Lleyton Hewitt rounded out his Australian Open preparations in familiar fashion today with another victory in the final of the Medibank International in Sydney.

Hewitt outclassed Czech qualifier Ivo Minar 7-5 6-0 to become the first player since John Bromwich in 1940 to capture four titles at the tournament formerly known as the NSW Open.
Bromwich went on to lift the trophy seven times and few would bet against Hewitt one day matching that mark on his beloved Homebush Bay centre court.

The world No.3's latest triumph was his 20th consecutive win in the event and 28th straight at the Olympic Park precinct including his Davis Cup and Masters Cup successes.

Hewitt looked like completing his build-up for the season's first grand slam starting at Melbourne Park on Monday without even raising a sweat after racing to a 5-0 lead against the little-known Minar in just 12 minutes.

But the world No.158 fought back doggedly to level at 5-5 before Hewitt regained the ascendancy to finally take the set, which featured five service breaks, after 39 minutes.

Hewitt began the second set as he did the first, sprinting to a 5-0 lead, and there was no way back a second time for Minar.

The dual grand slam champion smacked a forehand winner to finish off the Czech after exactly one hour to earn a cheque for $US52,000 ($A67,964) for adding to his previous titles in Sydney in 2000, 2001 and 2004.

Hewitt will now head to Melbourne Park brimming with confidence ahead of his first-round clash with Arnaud Clement, the Frenchman he's beaten twice this summer already.

Hewitt paid tribute to his mentor Roger Rasheed, Davis Cup coach Wally Masur, new girlfriend, Home and Away star Bec Cartwright, and the sellout crowd for their ongoing support.

"I love playing here in Sydney and it gets better and better every year," he said.

"I've only played four tournaments in this arena and I've been fortunate to win all four, so it's a hell of a place to play tennis."

In his broken English, the quietly spoken Minar, who yesterday described Hewitt as "the top player in the world", tipped the Australian to meet brilliant Swiss Roger Federer in the Australian Open final in two weeks.

"Lleyton, good luck in Melbourne and playing against Roger (Federer)," Minar said.

"For me, it's been a big success and I hope I will play here again next year."

semi final

Dogged Hewitt set for hard road

Patrick Miles
January 15, 2005


WITH the temperature on court in the mid-40s, six matches under his belt and down a set against a rampaging Max Mirnyi, Lleyton Hewitt could have been excused if he had decided to keep some powder dry for the challenges ahead.

But this is a 23-year-old who has only one gear -- not for him the easy way out.

As others have fallen by the wayside in the heat at Sydney Olympic Park this week with their minds on the Australian Open, Hewitt has refused to countenance anything less than full bore. Where mere mortals might have succumbed, he met Mirnyi head on and battled to his fourth final in the event.

Therein lies Hewitt's strength: mind over matter; where there's a will, there's a way.

It is the power of his mind as much as the accuracy of his ground strokes and the speed in his legs that sets him apart from his rivals, 127 of whom will be assembled at Melbourne Park next week attempting to win the first Grand Slam title of the season.


On his ninth visit, Hewitt has never been better prepared to become the first home winner of the Australian Open since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

The South Australian has failed to advance beyond the fourth round; he is determined to improve on that.

All the hard work has been done: on the practice court, in the gym, on the track and through the strength-sapping sand hills of Tennyson, near his home in Adelaide.

His physique bears testimony to the time spent on fitness and endurance.

On the court, his game is as sharp as ever. Everything is in place for a memorable fortnight in Melbourne.

"I feel physically as strong as anyone on the tour, I think," Hewitt said yesterday. "I've put in all the hard yards; I know what I've got left in the tank."

He agreed that his preparation had been as thorough as at any time before and his form was in the right place.

"There's been times when I've been hitting the ball as well going into the Australian Open," Hewitt said.

"Last year, I was playing well going in; I ran into a guy in the round of 16 by the name of Federer.

"Even the year before when I lost to Younes El Aynaoui, I was hitting the ball well.

"So you've still got to take it one match at a time and not get too confident about where your game's at going into it.

"Slams can be different to any other tournament."

Hewitt might well have been the top seed for the Australian Open were it not for the spectre of Roger Federer, who beat Hewitt in three of the past season's four Grand Slam tournaments. His Swiss nemesis aside, Hewitt had one of his best seasons last year. Only the draws, which brought him into multiple meetings with Federer, conspired against him.

When yesterday's draw was revealed, Hewitt allowed himself only two observations: that he would face Arnaud Clement of France in the first round and that he was in the opposite half from Federer.

"I know I play Clement first round," Hewitt said. "That will be three weeks in a row so we know each other's games pretty well."

Having defeated the Frenchman in Adelaide and Sydney, Hewitt said: "I probably feel a bit more confident than he does."

Hewitt would not be drawn publicly on the fact that Federer was in the opposite half. "I saw that, yeah," he said. "You have to win seven matches to win a Slam, so ..."

Hewitt's streak in Sydney continued yesterday when he defeated Mirnyi 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-2. The victory brought his winning run in this tournament to 19, and, in all competition, he has still lost just once at the venue, to Mirnyi in the 2000 Olympics.

After Mirnyi took the first-set tiebreak, Hewitt was stung into action as the Belarussian began to feel the effects of the debilitating conditions.

"I felt physically very good out there in tough conditions," Hewitt said.

"I think a lot of guys know that I'm not going to go away. That can only help me. It's a matter of being mentally tough.

"I know a lot of guys out on the tour today would have thrown in the second set, knowing that there's a Grand Slam to get ready for in a couple of days' time. But that's just not me."

His opponent in today's final remains as much of a mystery to Hewitt as it does to observers. Ivo Minar, who came through the qualifying event, defeated fellow Czech Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-2 to record the best result of his career.

Hewitt will rely on the scouting report of his coach, Roger Rasheed, to prepare him for the match.

"What do you know about your next opponent?" Hewitt was asked.

"About that," was the reply. "I don't even know what he looks like. Roger would have scouted a bit, though.

"I've got to go out there and play my game, and I'll work it out in the first couple of games, what to expect from him."

Today will mark Hewitt's 34th appearance in a final, for a return so far of 23 titles -- one for each year of his life.

It is a remarkable record and one on which he is sure to improve.

It is safe to assume, however, that he would be willing to trade a whole bunch of them for one at Melbourne Park, where he has been an annual visitor since he was a child.

"It's my national title," Hewitt said. "I've been going there for so many years, since I was a kid. I get a buzz walking into Melbourne Park every time I go there, whether it's the Australian Open or Davis Cup ties."

Rd 2 Hewitt lead-up is meticulous to a fault
By Richard Hinds
Sydney
January 13, 2005


Lleyton Hewitt's performance shows his preparation for the Australian Open is going to plan.

It was swelteringly hot, a pesky opponent was causing problems early in each set and a linesman was getting his hackles up by calling foot faults. In other words, perfect conditions for a straightforward Lleyton Hewitt victory.

Actually, the win over Arnaud Clement was rather more tumultuous than the 6-2, 6-4 score would suggest.

The foot-fault problem, particularly, seemed to irritate Hewitt, who had suffered similar problems in the first round of the Sydney International - albeit from a different linesman and at the other end of the court.

Despite Hewitt's insistence that he had not put his fetching new blue sneakers on the baseline in round one, and that the alleged foot faults had subsequently been the subject of some mirth between he and coach Roger Rasheed, Hewitt said he had even moved back a centimetre or two before yesterday's match.

Alas, he was still foot-faulted several times, leading him to make a relatively courteous but hardly unprecedented visit to the central umpire's chair.

"I just asked whether it could be only because (of that umpire)," said Hewitt. "You know, if it happened down both ends, I could fully understand it."

While the foot faults were irritating, they did little to detract from another impressive performance by Hewitt or to diminish the belief that his preparation for the Australian Open is bang on target.

Unlike Hewitt's first match against Karol Beck, Clement at least gave him a work-out - as he had in Adelaide last week when the Frenchman won the first set. This time, Hewitt was forced to save four break points after falling behind 0-40 on his opening service game and had to climb back from 1-4 in the second set.

Both times, his response to early bother was to steamroll his way through the last five games of the set and, with the air temperature on centre court reaching 47 degrees, his strength and control in those bursts was impressive.

On the other hand, it was not such a good day for the Swede Joachim Johannson, who will receive treatment in Melbourne today on a hamstring injury that forced him to withdraw during the first set of his second-round match against Max Mirnyi.

The third-seeded Johansson hurt his right hamstring during his win over Greg Rusedski on Tuesday and was inconvenienced during yesterday's warm-up and early in the match.

"I tried to go out there today for a few games but I felt I couldn't give 100 per cent," said Johansson, who trailed 1-4 when he decided he could not go on. "At this level, there's no way now you can win a match (injured)."
Joachim Johansson in action against Max Mirnyi, before a hamstring injury forced him to retire.
Johansson has never hurt a hamstring and was uncertain whether it would force him to withdraw from the Australian Open. "Obviously it doesn't feel great," he said. "So that's why I stopped."

Even if he can play in Melbourne, the injury is a setback for Johansson who started last year at No. 150 in the world and had leapt to No. 11 after his victory at the Australian hardcourt title in Adelaide last week. A US Open semi-finalist last year, the Swede's form even has some rating him a strong outside chance to win the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, for those who made it through to the quarter-finals here, high temperatures forecast in the next few days mean early-season fitness will be tested. In that regard, Hewitt is now an unbackable favourite to retain his title - he has now won 17 straight matches at this tournament including three titles - and is probably the only player left in the field hoping the mercury will rise even further.

"This is what you expect in the Australian summer," said Hewitt of yesterday's baking heat. "It's pretty enjoyable to play out there for myself. I know I've done all the hard work, I've prepared as well as possible."

Hewitt now plays the 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, who beat Australian Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3). In the most predictable match of the tournament, the two big servers slugged it out with neither able to break serve and only a few errors by Arthurs in the tie-breakers splitting the pair.

With the No. 2 seed Carlos Moya beaten in the first round, the other side of the men's draw has become something of a "Who's that?" of international tennis. The Czech qualifier Ivo Minar will play fourth seed Andrei Pavel in one quarter-final, while fifth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain meets another Czech, Radek Stepanek, in the other.

Hewitt advances, Johansson out with hamstring injury
By DENNIS PASSA, Associated Press Writer
January 12, 2005


SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Lleyton Hewitt rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to beat Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4 Wednesday, advancing the top-seeded Australian to the quarterfinals of the Sydney International.

Frenchman Clement double-faulted at two crucial points in the match -- the first time at 2-2 in the opening set to give Hewitt his first service break.

With Clement up 3-0 and then 4-1 in the second set, Hewitt broke back in the seventh game -- with Clement giving him break point with a double fault.

Clement then watched as Hewitt hit a crosscourt winner on the next point, pumping his fist and yelling ``Come On!'' amid cheers from the capacity center-court crowd.

Hewitt held service to love in the eighth game, leveling the set 4-4, before again breaking a demoralized Clement in the ninth.

The 23-year-old Australian won his fifth consecutive game to seal the match and advance to a quarterfinal against the winner of Wednesday's late match between 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson and Hewitt's Davis Cup teammate, Wayne Arthurs.

Third-seeded Joachim Johansson of Sweden, who won last week's Australian men's hardcourt championship at Adelaide, pulled out of his second-round match against Max Mirnyi of Belarus on Wednesday with a hamstring injury while trailing 4-1 in the first set.

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He injured his right hamstring in the second set of his win Tuesday over Greg Rusedski.

``It's a new injury, I've never had it before,'' Joachim Johansson said. ``It was sore when I was practicing. I couldn't give 100 percent, and at this level, there's no way you can win a match. I will go to Melbourne this evening and see what the doctor says.''

When asked whether he might be in doubt for next week's Australian Open, he said: ``I think it's too early to say.''

In other men's matches Wednesday, eighth-seeded Taylor Dent defeated fellow American Mardy Fish 7-6 (4), 6-1; fourth-seeded Andrei Pavel of Romania beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 7-6 (3), and Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic defeated Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-2.

In women's second-round play, third-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Eleni Deniilidou of Greece 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-2, and Samantha Stosur of Australia, a finalist in last week's Gold Coast tournament, beat Tatiana Golovin of France 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Top-seeded American Lindsay Davenport plays her quarterfinal match Thursday against Stosur. Dementieva will next play Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who beat Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday.

``She's No. 1 in the world and she's playing really well right now,'' Stosur said of Davenport. ``But so am I. I think it'll be an interesting match.''

Hewitt does his bit for tsunami victims
January 11, 2005 

Lleyton Hewitt threw his weight behind the relief effort for the Asia tsunami victims by offering to auction personal Yonex tennis racquets at the Medibank International in Sydney.

World No.3 Hewitt will auction personal RDX500 Yonex frames to the highest bidder in the stands at the conclusion of each of his matches at the event.

"The tsunami has touched many people's lives throughout the Asia-Pacific region and the world," said Hewitt.

"But no one more than the children of the countries which were impacted by this natural disaster.

"UNICEF is working to protect and help those children who may have been separated from their families or orphaned as a result of the tsunami and each of us should do as much as we can to support their ongoing efforts."

Beginning on Wednesday, Hewitt will also auction three frames daily on the Yonex website.

Hewitt hoping bigger is better
By Richard Hinds
January 11, 2005
www.smh.com.au

As Lleyton Hewitt pounded balls bare-chested on the practice courts at the Sydney International Tennis Centre over the past few days, one thing has been perfectly obvious: there is a lot more of him to love.

And, contrary to its usual use, this is not a euphemism relating to the excessive intake of seasonal dietary evils such as Christmas pudding and festive drinks. Rather, it is a flattering assessment of the imposing physique the one-time waif of the men's tour has built during the past 18 months.

Banished forever is the image of the boy Hewitt with shorts and shirt flapping over a skinny body, looking more like a punk skater kid than a tennis star. The Bart Simpson of the courts has been brushed aside by Super Lleyton, a muscular, confident and perhaps even more relaxed character now ready to confront his own version of kryptonite, world No.1 Roger Federer.

Hewitt has worked harder than ever in the off-season, pumping the iron and pounding the pavement with his friend and housemate Andrew McLeod of Adelaide Crows fame. However, he says the sudden and obvious change in his body shape is the result of a long-term strategy.

"It's been something Roger [coach Roger Rasheed] and I have really built up, I think, the last 18 months or so," says Hewitt, who also trained hard between the Davis Cup semi-final and final in 2003. "But it's probably showed more the last six months or so."

Hewitt's achievements - particularly two grand slam titles and his time as world No.1 - have been even more laudable because he has spent most of his time fighting out of his weight against hulking opponents in a game that seems to get more powerful each year. Yet, while he has obviously added muscle in an attempt to compete with the game's giants, he does not think it will help him crush the ball like Marat Safin or even his recent conqueror in Adelaide, Taylor Dent.

Rather, he hopes it will improve his already renowned movement on the court. "In tennis, I think core stability is very important," he says. "If you're very strong through your mid section then you're going to be out there, especially on clay. That's where you have to slide and hit the ball. That's only going to help in the future."

In the next three weeks, starting with today's match against Slovakian Karol Beck in the Medibank International, Hewitt will have to be very strong. With Mark Philippoussis in doubt for the Australian Open and no other Australian man ranked inside the top 100, never has the weight of national expectation fallen so heavily on his shoulders.

Hewitt denies that home-country pressure has helped account for his disappointing Australian Open record. As he was quick to point out, a bout of chicken pox, a freak match by Younes El Aynaoui and, last year, the might of the brilliant Federer are among the valid reasons for not being able to do at Melbourne Park what he has at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows. "I think I've played enough big matches in Australia that the pressure of playing in Australia doesn't bother me," he said.

But if pressure is not a concern, Federer obviously is. While he claims he suffered no mental scars from six consecutive losses to the Swiss last year, including a 6-0, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 whipping in the US Open final, even Hewitt's enormous confidence must have been dented. The mere fact that Hewitt continues to state that Federer is clearly the best in the world is significant given that, usually, he would not concede a tug of war to an elephant.

Instead of brave statements about conquering the world No.1, Hewitt for once offers mild cliches about beating other players first and focusing on his own game. "[If you] come and just think that you've got to worry about Roger Federer, then at the end you probably won't get to have a crack at him anyway," he says.

What seems obvious is that, should he fail to win here or at the Australian Open, a broken heart won't be added to the list of reasons. Time heals all wounds, they say. And Hewitt's new girlfriend, actress Bec Cartwright, seems to be doing a fair job, too.

"Did splitting with Kim [Clijsters] have any effect on your tennis?" he was asked. "Did it look like it did?" he replied.

"No."

"Then there you go."

Hewitt beefs up rivalry with Federer
By Mark Hodgkinson
(Filed: 11/01/2005)
www.telegraph.co.uk

No longer is Lleyton Hewitt the skinny kid whose over-sized shirt flaps against his shoulders, and when he went topless in training yesterday to show the muscle he has added for the Australian Open, one observer commented that "the Bart Simpson of the courts" has become "Super Lleyton".

Maybe, but it was his comments about Roger Federer that were far more revealing. The Australian, not usually one for praising opponents, and a man known for his competitive, cut-throat urges, admitted that he would be ready to accept defeat to Federer. Even with his new-look, gym-hardened physique.

"There's no shame right at the moment in losing to Roger," said Hewitt, who recognises that Federer, the defending champion at next week's Grand Slam, is the leading player of his generation. He's going to go down as one of the greatest. There's no doubt that, right at the moment, he's the best player in the world."

Hewitt rose from 17 to three in the rankings last year, but the three times he met Federer in the Grand Slams - at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open - he was bamboozled by the Swiss, who won all three of those titles. In the New York final, Federer took two of the three sets 6-0. "He was the only one stopping me last year. Otherwise, I'd be number one in the world," Hewitt said.

Although Hewitt would not go so far as to say that the world No 1 has a psychological hold over him, he had been desperate to secure for himself the No 2 ranking to ensure that he was not in the same side of the draw at Melbourne Park. Unfortunately for him, the mathematics did not allow him to overtake Andy Roddick.

So Hewitt will await the draw with added interest, even if in seven attempts at his home Grand Slam he has never advanced beyond the fourth round. The 23-year-old, who is playing in a warm-up event in Sydney this week, was moved to deny yesterday that he had a history of grandstand choking in Melbourne.

He explained that there were valid reasons for his early exits at Melbourne. Federer had been just too good last year, it had been a "freakish" performance from Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in 2003, and the year before that he had been suffering from chicken pox.

No Australian man has won his country's Open since Mark Edmondson in 1976, but Hewitt said that the pressure would not be an issue. "I've played enough big matches in Australia that the pressure of playing in Australia doesn't bother me at all," he said.

Hewitt has also been distracted by "the speed wars", an argument with officialdom over the pace of the rubberised surface. It is the equivalent of Tim Henman and the All England Club slinging insults back and forth in the days before Wimbledon. Hewitt will be hoping that the court controversy and his praise for Federer have not revealed too much.

Henman starts his preparations for the Australian Open tomorrow at an exhibition event, the Kooyong Classic. The British No 1, who said that his stiff back was feeling fine after the 24-hour flight, expects to be joined in the Melbourne suburbs by, among others, Federer, Roddick and Andre Agassi.

Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, is in Sydney, where he is paired in the first round with Joachim Johansson, a Swede who hits his shots as if he has a personal grievance with the ball.

Hewitt hails 'standout' Federer
BBC Sport

Hewitt said: "There's no shame right at the moment in losing to Roger.

Lleyton Hewitt has admitted that he can accept defeat to Roger Federer after seeing the world number one continue his dominance at the Qatar Open.

"He's going to go down as one of the greatest. But you've still got to work hard on your game.

"He's going to have a lot more pressure on him to back up an incredible last year.That won't be easy, but he started alright in the first week of the year."

Federer beat Ivan Ljubicic on Sunday to win the Qatar Open in Doha - his 14th consecutive victory in finals.

Hewitt, who takes on Radek Stepanek at the Sydney International on Tuesday, had an excellent year himself in 2004.

The Australian rose from 17 in the world rankings to number three and lost to the eventual winner in each Grand Slam - with three of those defeats coming against Federer.

"He was the only one stopping me last year. Otherwise, I'd be number one in the world," said Hewitt.

"So the way you look at it is you've got to beat everyone. You've got to beat the best player in the world to win majors.

"There's no doubt that, right at the moment, he's the best player in the world. The last 18 months, he's been the standout."