Tennis legend Billie Jean King has leapt to the support of Lleyton Hewitt as he prepares to defend his United States Open title. Hewitt has come under fire from critics who claim he doesn't always live up to the public relations responsibilities of his world No. 1 ranking.

The young Australian's aggressive style of play and his strained relationship with sections of the media, coupled with controversial on-court incidents, mean his popularity is certainly not universal.

The New York crowd cheered Hewitt's double faults last year after an alleged race row involving black American player James Blake.

Crowd reaction will be interesting when Hewitt opens his title defence against unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Coutelot today or on Wednesday and another meeting with Blake is possible later in the week.

Asked this week if a more likeable Hewitt would help raise the profile of men's tennis, Billie Jean King gave the two-time grand slam champion her unqualified support.

"God, I love him. How can you not love this guy?" King said.

Her sentiment was echoed by Australian Davis Cup coach Wally Masur who, along with John McEnroe, compared him to feisty American great Jimmy Connors.

"I love him. I reckon he's great," Masur said. "The more people see Lleyton live and the better they get to know him, they've got to love him. He's electric.

"He loves to compete and takes guys on personally, which Jimmy Connors used to do. To me, he's like the Jimmy Connors of our time, combative and on fire all the time. I'd pay to go and watch him play."

McEnroe said while Hewitt's size would make it difficult for him to dominate the game like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi did in the 1990s, he was definitely the player to beat in New York.

"There is no question he is the fastest player around and a great competitor, probably the greatest since Jimmy Connors, which is quite a compliment," he told Britain's Sunday Telegraph.

King said Hewitt was a victim of his own success. "People love victims. They love it when you are not doing well," she said.

"How can you not love Hewitt? He's incredible for all of us that aren't six feet two, he's giving everybody hope again to play this sport."

Masur said it was unfair to compare Hewitt's popularity with that of older players, including the semi-retired Pat Rafter.

"Pat Rafter's nearly 30. He's gone full circle, may, may not play again, we don't know," he said.

"Everyone gets a little warmer in the afterglow. McEnroe and Connors are revered, especially around this place, but cast your mind back 15 or so years ago, they were creating a lot of headlines, too.

"Lleyton's 21, he's just starting out. Let's judge him down the track when he's 30. That might be a little fairer."

C'mon (give me a break) The Age Aug 26

Lleyton Hewitt should be a sports superstar, but isn't despite the fact that the public want to love him. Caroline Overington reports.

Imagine that you are the world's No. 1 tennis player. Now imagine that nobody cares.

Imagine that you show up for a free event in New York, two days before the US Open, and only 17 people turn up, and two of those are your parents.

That is what happened to Lleyton Hewitt yesterday.

He is the No. 1 tennis player in the world and he recently won Wimbledon. He is also defending champion at the US Open.

He should be a superstar, but he isn't.

His recent victories deserve a wild round of applause and yet, when he turned up to hit a few balls at Flushing Meadow, there were hardly any people there to put their hands together.

To put that in perspective, remember what happened whenever Pat Rafter turned up to practice in the days before any event, anywhere.

He had people hanging off the chain fences around the courts. If he took his shirt off, well, women would have tunnelled through the hardcourt to get near him.

The same was once true of Mark Philippoussis. Remember when he was still young and handsome and full of promise?

It isn't a parochial thing. Tennis fans have always mobbed the world's No. 1.

Andre Agassi had a flying wedge of support staff, to help him thrust his way through throbbing crowds.

Pete Sampras, who had a penchant for bruising five-set matches in hellish conditions, once moved a Melbourne audience to tears.

But with Lleyton, well, let's just say the men's tour hasn't had a problem like this on its hands since Thomas Muster was No. 1.

But then, at a memorable press conference in Melbourne in 1996, somebody asked Muster why nobody liked him and he laughed out loud, after which, things got better. Now that he's married to Jo-Beth Taylor, he's almost like an Australian son. So why is Lleyton so little-loved?

Actually, let's go back a step: is it even true that he isn't loved?

Maybe the public really adores him, and the Australian media just refuses to acknowledge it, because Lleyton doesn't do enough interviews? That is what his manager, Thomas Ross, tells people.

Indeed, at Flushing Meadow yesterday, Ross was overheard telling American journalists that the Australian public adores Lleyton, and it's only journalists who don't admire him, not that Lleyton could care less.

Sadly for Ross (but even more depressing for Lleyton), that it just isn't true.

Two weeks ago, Ray Morgan International conducted a poll to find out who Australia's most popular sporting heroes were.

Ian Thorpe topped the list. Then came Pat Rafter and Steve Waugh and Nathan Buckley. Lleyton Hewitt wasn't in the top five.

Then there are events like the one held yesterday, when Lleyton showed up to hit some balls around with a bunch of young people from the Special Olympics.

Can you imagine only 17 people turning up if Agassi had done that, when he was No. 1? They would have needed a SWAT team to keep people away.

So, whatever Ross thinks, there is a problem. The next question is: why?

Lleyton said some silly things when he was a boy (at the French Open in 1999, for example, he called a linesman a "spastic" which was stupid, but hardly a hanging offence.)

The media reported those comments and Lleyton got upset.

In the years since then, governments have fallen and ice caps have melted, but Lleyton's management still says that it wasn't fair, and Lleyton still won't talk to Australian journalists (in recent years, that ban has extended to some foreign journalists, since Octogan said they were now infected by bias from the Australian media).

And, of course, there have also been other incidents, such as the time Lleyton smashed up a bunch of geraniums on the court.

In the absence of real interviews with Lleyton, the media has had nothing to report but these incidents.

And so, when Lleyton attacks a box of flowers, it makes news.

When Lleyton has a tantrum on court (the best tennis players do), then that makes news, too.

Five years into Lleyton's magnificent career, the tension is terrific: many, many people are waiting for him to make an ass of himself, and he is waiting to be crucified for anything he might say or do.

Which brings us to this year's US Open. Lleyton won last year's event just 36 hours before the terrorist attack that killed 2819 people in New York. A fine time to bury the hatchet, one might think.

With good management, he could have used the goodwill he built up at Wimbledon to say things like: "I'm really excited to be here, at the US Open. It was shocking, what happened after I left last year. I hope to play some great tennis, because I reckon people are feeling pretty horrible in New York right now, and anything I can do to cheer them up, I will do."

Instead of that, Lley ton's management invited journalists to watch him take part in a publicity stunt at a shoe store ("but he can only talk about the product") and then to yesterday's event to promote the Special Olympics, which was attended by 17 people, not counting media, sponsors and players.

Ross blamed the light rain but this is bunkum: several thousand people were walking around Flushing Meadow yesterday and, in normal circumstances, they would have worked the rubber off their shoes to get in to see the world's No. 1 hit a few balls but not, it seems, if that No. 1 is Lleyton Hewitt.

It's enough to make you cry with frustration (and not only for the special olympians, who are doubtless working their hearts out, and who deserve all the publicity they can get).

It's more for Lleyton that you feel anguish. By many accounts, he's a pleasant kid who had to grow up in public (would you like it if everything you said when you were 19 was repeated, over and over, around the world, for years afterwards?)

It's true that he doesn't have Rafter's good looks, or Agassi's unbelievable skill, but he's a good tennis player with proud parents and a sweet girlfriend, so how has he managed to get into a position where he's the world's No. 1 but virtually bereft of fans?

Lleyton did speak to the media yesterday, albeit briefly.

He had a hit with the Special Olympics kids, then shuffled over to the waiting media, with his hat on backwards and his oversized shorts, looking all the world like a pleasant but nervous Australian kid, who likes looking at his shoes a lot.

Asked how he expected to fare at this year's US Open, Hewitt said: "We'll wait and see, I guess." He agreed that it was a "weird feeling", coming back to New York, since winning the Open had "changed my life."

He said the US Open was his first grand slam victory and that was a "a real burden off my back" and yet, when "all that happened" (the terrorist attacks) he had to "put everything in perspective".

About a metre away, Lleyton's coach, Jason Stoltenberg, was explaining to American journalists that Lleyton's on-court antics (the "C'mons" and the fist punching the air) "help him. It's his natural competitiveness. He puts a lot of effort and energy in. He has to let his emotions out".

Asked if he could win again, Stoltenberg said: "I think so," which left only one question hanging: will anybody care?

Well, we would love to care.

So here is a message for Lleyton, that his manager will hopefully let him read: Lleyton, we want to love you. We, the public, want to battle to get into your matches, and hang off the trees if we can't. We want to scream with desire when you tear off your shirt, and cheer madly when you do one of those splendid, double-fisted cross court winners.

So, why, why, why won't you let us?

August 24, 2002
U.S. OPEN

Other Side Is Mr. Hide

The Hewitt you don't see is shy 21-year-old who is miles from Connors-type character who prowls the court as if it's his war zone

By LISA DILLMAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER (latimes.com)

PALO ALTO -- "Come o-n-n-n!" he squeals, sounding like a wounded wombat, pumping his fists and cursing at the imaginary adversaries he has invented on his way to the top of his sport. And his sport just sits there, wondering what to make of this impudent kid in the backward baseball cap who has turned men's tennis on its head.

"Come o-n-n-n!" Lleyton Hewitt shouts, and the rest of tennis does a double take, giving serious thought to a question that has yet to be sufficiently answered: If Hewitt's doing the leading, are we really sure we want to go with him?

There are champions of the moment--Marat Safin, Thomas Johansson, Albert Costa--instant lottery winners who take their prizes, do their news conferences and fade quickly into the background. Staying power is a rarity. Men's Grand Slam champions of late seem to come equipped with ticking clocks.

Hewitt has changed this time-share arrangement at the top, apparently having settled in for the long haul. Top-seeded this year, he won the U.S. Open last year, becoming the youngest No. 1 in ATP history at 20, then added a Grand Slam bookend with his Wimbledon title in July at 21.

He wins and he snarls. He loses, less frequently, but the snarl remains. Consistency is both Hewitt's strength and his weakness. His world is a simple one, divided neatly into casts of supporters and enemies. Chair umpires, linespeople, reporters, opponents, tour officials, who you are doesn't matter--if you're not with him, the way Hewitt looks at it, you are most assuredly against him.

"I'm competitive. I'm the first to admit that," he says. "That's me. It doesn't matter if I'm swimming against [Olympic champion] Ian Thorpe, I'll try and win. I know I can't, but I'll try and do my best.

"That's probably one reason why I've probably been able to do as well as I have, because I go out on the court and try and give everything I've got every time."

That much the rest of tennis learned long ago. But what else do we know about Hewitt, the economy-sized firebrand from Adelaide, Australia, with the formidable groundstrokes and the attitude to match?

Rather than providing clues, Hewitt's triumph at Wimbledon only heightened the mystery. Australian writers, deprived of easy access during the tournament, were holding secret meetings with his family to help improve the situation. Reporters from other countries joined the pursuit. One was spirited into the house of Hewitt's entourage at Wimbledon to speak with his parents, Glynn and Cherilyn, in the basement, but was asked to stay in hiding because Lleyton had unexpectedly arrived with his girlfriend, tennis pro Kim Clijsters.

The Wimbledon title--taken with the loss of only two sets in seven matches--accelerated the unveiling of Hewitt. Then, after he'd pulled out of an event in Los Angeles because he was sick, his people were willing to make him available at the Stanford women's tournament where Clijsters was playing.

There the Hewitt we've come to see on the court was missing.

Where was the tennis brat columnist John Feinstein had recently compared to Barry Bonds, calling them champions who were "absolute chumps as human beings?"

Where was that rumored chip the size of New Zealand on his shoulder?

The heir apparent to John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and early Andre Agassi was polite, reflective and even modest about his abilities.

This had an almost "Wizard of Oz" feel. On a bench near the practice courts at Stanford, Hewitt--the screaming, polarizing No. 1 who'd once called an umpire "a spastic" and had slid into a racially tinged controversy while playing African American James Blake at the 2001 U.S. Open--seemed more like a shy, skinny kid looking for the area's best skateboarding park.

"I think you learn from your mistakes now and then," Hewitt said. "Then again, sometimes people try to find the negative thing out of anything to write about. That's the disappointing thing."

So little was known about Hewitt, and outside of a couple of acquaintances in the media in Australia, he had little reservoir of goodwill when various controversies hit in the last year or so, including the break in December with respected coach Darren Cahill. He has been revealed in fits and starts, meaning that his story remains hard to tell.

"I'm probably more shy off the court than people probably think," he said. "I'm not the biggest fan of going there and standing up and telling stories about myself."

To that end, he has spoken a couple of times to the most outgoing and affable of previous Australian champions, John Newcombe, who was also Hewitt's first Davis Cup captain.

"Talking about yourself, I find that a little bit tough," Hewitt said. "I spoke to Newk a couple of times about it because he talks so well. He has so many stories to tell over the last 50 years he's played this game. He said when I'm his age, I'll have stories to tell as well. It's tough for a 21-year-old to go out there and stand up in front of a lot of people. That comes with experience."

The dual Hewitts are not a new development. His agent, Tom Ross, learned this from Hewitt's mother when he was recruiting the youngster.

"She would often say there's two Lleytons," Ross said. "There was the Lleyton on court, who is this fiery personality and an incredible competitor.

"Off court, you wouldn't recognize him. He's this shy little kid who sits in the back of the class."

One consistent thread was his passion for winning--at everything.

Hewitt says he got his body type and endurance from his mother, who was a netball player, and his quickness from his father, a former Australian rules football player. Competitiveness came from both sides.

Oftentimes, junior players go through periods of petulance--tanking a match or throwing a set or simply retiring. Hewitt looked stumped when asked if that ever happened in his childhood.

"I always gave 100%. I can't remember once, I honestly can't," he said.

This, combined with his counterpunching abilities, makes him a fitting successor to Connors, who, like Hewitt, won his first Wimbledon at 21.

Beyond that, he shares Connors' fighting spirit on the court and the ability to raise his level in hostile circumstances.

"He's pretty strong-headed," said Patrick McEnroe, ESPN commentator and U.S. Davis Cup captain. "That's why he's No. 1 in the world. He's always reminded me of Connors. When he first came on the tour, the way he played, a me-against-the-world type of mentality.

"Which, quite honestly, isn't the worst thing to have for a tennis player. He thrives on that. Jimmy was like that in a lot of respects, 'I'm going to screw everybody, and show everybody.' In tennis, you can get away with that."

Said Hewitt: "There's a few times when people tried to hop on the train, and try bagging you. It doesn't worry me. It doesn't affect my tennis. I don't think people really realized that until probably the U.S Open last year.

"It's happened so many times in Davis Cup. I was getting bagged before I played in Spain. I went out there and beat [Albert] Costa in five sets in Barcelona. The crowd doesn't worry me when I go out there. I'm able, for some reason, to block it out and play my best tennis."

The similarities to Connors don't end there. When Connors won at Wimbledon in 1974, he was dating Chris Evert. Their engagement was viewed by many as the class rebel hooking up with the leader of the pep squad. Hewitt has been seeing Clijsters since he met her at the Australian Open in 2000, attending as many of her matches as possible. Clijsters is well liked by media and her peers on the tour.

"Watching Kim affects me," Hewitt said. "I want her to win every time she steps on the court. It's tough. When you're out there, you don't feel those same sorts of pressures. You're sitting off the court and you're thinking, 'Get a first serve in here,' and then they miss it. I couldn't do it week in and week out."

Like Hewitt, Connors had his media problems and conflicts with tour officials in his day, even filing a $40-million antitrust lawsuit against the ATP officials and others, charging a conspiracy to monopolize pro tennis.

Hewitt's difficulties with the ATP aren't quite of that nature, but even on the eve of his U.S. Open title defense he was prepared to spar with that organization. He was fined $105,650 by the ATP for refusing to conduct an interview with ESPN this month before his first-round match at Cincinnati.

There is an appeal pending, but Hewitt hired counsel in Indianapolis this week, Barnes & Thornburg, to handle the matter should legal action be required. His camp felt an arrangement with the parties had been reached before the matter exploded at the tournament.

"Based upon Lleyton's experience with the tour to date, it's not hard to understand he felt the need to engage a litigator," Ross said. "There was some extremely bad judgment used by certain tour staff--and Lleyton paid the price."

One of the members of the appeals panel used to be Patrick McEnroe. He has stepped down from the position, citing his Davis Cup position as well as his broadcast responsibilities. McEnroe speaks highly of Hewitt as a performer and personality, but says that being No. 1 carries extra responsibilities.

"The tour has got to have some power here," he said. "The Lleyton Hewitts of the world have a lot more being asked of them. You need to do more when you're at the top of the sport."

For Hewitt, the good still outweighed the bad a few weeks ago at Stanford. This was before the ATP feud, long before he'd told an Australian newspaper that the men's tour was a badly run "circus."

On this day, there was still a Wimbledon afterglow and the thrill of holding the No. 1 ranking, talking about his favorite band, Midnight Oil, and getting to play on Tiger Woods' collegiate golf course.

So, what would the top tennis player want to ask the top golfer?

"The way that he handles himself every tournament he goes into, everyone expects him to shoot 65 every day," Hewitt said. "That's an extraordinary thing. The way he's been able to block everything out and concentrate on going out there and doing what he does best. If there is a secret for him doing that, I'd like to know it, to try and keep my ranking and majors going as long as I could."

 Quick Study Lleyton Hewitt at a glance: Country: Australia Age: 21 Recent U.S. Opens: 2001-won, 2000-semis, 1999-3rd, 1998-DNP Notable: At 5 feet 11, 150 pounds, he doesn't overpower many players but chases down just about everything an opponent hits. ... Few players return serve better. ... At 20, finished 2001 as youngest year-end men's No. 1 2002 REVIEW Singles record 45-10 Singles titles 4 Doubles record 4-6 Doubles titles 0 Prize money $1,863,989 CAREER Singles record 240-77 Singles titles 16 Double titles 2 Prize money $8,107,404 Times Wire Services

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Hewitt: Brash on Court, Shy Off It
Sun Aug 25, 3:27 PM ET
By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Tennis Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Lleyton Hewitt's fighting spirit has helped him become a Grand Slam champion and the world's top-ranked player. It also gets him into trouble.

He's been fined for yelling at linesmen, lost a point for throwing a ball near an official and was criticized for what was perceived as a racially influenced outburst during a match in last year's U.S. Open ( news - web sites).

Away from the court, though, Hewitt can be affable and even shy, seeming very little like the brash player who wears a backward baseball cap and peppers his matches with shouts of "Come on!"

He's the defending champion and seeded first at the U.S. Open, which starts Monday. Neither Hewitt nor Venus Williams ( news - web sites), who is trying to become the first woman to win three straight U.S. Opens since Chris Evert took four in a row from 1975-78, plays on the opening day.

Top matches Monday include Williams' younger sister, top-ranked Serena, against Corina Morariu, who'll be playing her first Grand Slam match since returning to the tour after fighting leukemia for more than a year.

Serena is aiming for her third consecutive major title, after beating Venus in the finals of the French Open ( news - web sites) and Wimbledon ( news - web sites).

Others playing Monday include two-time Open champion Andre Agassi ( news - profile - photos), fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport ( news - profile - photos) and French Open winner Albert Costa ( news - profile - photos).

Hewitt can't wait to get on court. His first-round match is against 103rd-ranked Frenchman Nicolas Coutelot.

"I love competition and I love getting out there, working hard," Hewitt said. "To come out and compete in the toughest environments, especially the U.S. Open, it's sort of what I put my mind to."

Listed generously at 5-foot-11 and 150 pounds, Hewitt is the perfect antidote to the popular notion that the modern tennis player has to be as oversized as today's rackets and can succeed only with a power game.

Hewitt wears down opponents by chasing down everything that comes across the net. He just never stops. It's superb defensive tennis, highlighted by a fantastic return and complemented by an improving serve. Last month that package made him the first baseliner to win Wimbledon since Agassi in 1992.

"I love the Grand Slams, and you don't need much motivation to get up for them," Hewitt said. "That's what I'm playing tennis for at the moment."

His smooth game comes with a snarl, however. It's as though he steps on court with a mental enemies' list containing many more names than just that of his opponent. Fans, linesmen and the media all are fair game.

Hewitt was docked $1,000 for calling a chair umpire at the 2001 French Open a "spastic." He upset fans in his hometown of Adelaide, Australia, by calling them "stupid" for rooting for his underdog opponent during a 2000 match.

Most recently, the ATP Tour fined Hewitt half his winnings at a Tennis Masters Series event in Cincinnati — more than $100,000 — for not doing an interview with ESPN, which was broadcasting the tournament. He's appealing the penalty.

In typical fashion, Hewitt went out in his next match and beat his opponent 6-0, 6-0.

"It helps him that his natural competitiveness comes out on court," said Hewitt's coach, former tour player Jason Stoltenberg. "He's actually eased up a little bit compared to when he was younger."

During a second-round victory over James Blake in the 2001 U.S. Open, Hewitt demanded that linesman Marion Johnson be removed after calling two foot faults. Blake and Johnson are black. "Look at him, mate," Hewitt said to the chair umpire, referring to Johnson. "Look at him and tell me what the similarity is." Hewitt said his use of the word "similarity" referred to both faults being called by Johnson.

Hewitt and Blake could meet in the third round this year.

Winning the U.S. Open title helped Hewitt, then 20, finish 2001 as the youngest year-end No. 1. A 45-10 match record and four tournament titles this year kept him there, putting at least a temporary stop to the merry-go-round nature of men's tennis.

Eight Grand Slam titles had been won by eight men until Hewitt added Wimbledon to his U.S. Open breakthrough.

"If you can do it once at a Grand Slam, you can do it again," said Agassi, who is seeded sixth. "He's shown the mindset to give what it takes to be at the top."

A kinder, gentler Hewitt was on display during a clinic Saturday with local Special Olympics athletes. For an hour, in the rain, the 21-year-old Australian played points, offered tips, exchanged high-fives and drew smiles.

He even persuaded one boy to turn his cap backward.

Nothing brash about that.

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Morariu and Hewitt lift spirit amid tight security
By John Roberts in New York
26 August 2002

We are here to cover a tennis tournament, one of life's sporting pleasures, a trivial pursuit in the scheme of things, even though $16m (£10.7m) is on offer to competitors at the United States Open, which starts today.

As if to put the event in perspective, the United States Tennis Association arranged a coach trip to Ground Zero for the visiting media yesterday morning, although nobody needed reminding that the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood on this desolate site until 11 September, two days after last year's US Open.

Tonight, as part of the tournament's opening ceremony, the Ground Zero Heroes' Flag – the flag recovered from Manhattan's world financial centre and subsequently raised by US Marines after capturing Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan, will fly over the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

There is a massive police presence in and around the National Tennis Center, at Flushing Meadows, which is situated in Queens, between JFK and La Guardia airports. In spite of the tight security, however, there are sights to lighten the spirits and gladden the heart.

Corina Morariu, a 25-year-old from Detroit, is unlikely to win so much as a set against Serena Williams, the Wimbledon and French Open women's singles champion and world No 1, when they meet in the first round. But that does not matter. The crowd will roar for Morariu simply because she is here, well enough to accept a wild card into the tournament.

Formerly the world No 1 women's doubles player, having partnered Lindsay Davenport to triumph at Wimbledon in 1999, Morariu is in remission from Leukemia. In May 2001, four months after winning the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Ellis Ferreira, of South Africa, Morariu was diagnosed with acute promyelocitic Leukemia (a rapidly progressing type of the disease which affects the production of white blood cells) and underwent intensive chemotherapy.

Throughout her illness, Morariu's fellow competitors on the WTA Tour, knowing she continued to follow tennis on television, sent her get well messages during post-match interviews. She started her comeback at the end of last month, accepting a wild card into the doubles at the Acura Classic in San Diego.

Morariu lost her two previous matches against Serena Williams, both in 1998, in straight sets, and that was before Serena's game developed to the extent that she was able to eclipse her elder sister, Venus. Whatever the outcome of this latest match against Serena, Morariu is already a winner for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, for whom she has become an international sports ambassador.

Which brings us to an encouraging performance by Lleyton Hewitt, the Wimbledon champion and world No 1. Before completing his preparations for his defence of the US Open title, the 21-year-old Australian cheerfully went out in the drizzle on Grandstand Court here on Saturday afternoon to direct a coaching clinic and announce his commitment to the Special Olympics in its campaign to help athletes with mental retardation.

Hewitt has not always endeared himself to the public while in the process of proving himself to be the finest player in the game. He appalled people by calling an umpire "spastic'' during the French Open last year, and was embroiled in controversy here at the US Open after allegedly making a remark about a line-judge that was open to racial interpretation during his match against James Blake, an African-American. Hewitt was given the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, there he was on Saturday, his cap turned back to front, a smile on his face, evidently enjoying himself as much as the group of athletes with special needs with whom he traded shots in the rain. "I've been fortunate to have earned the title of champion in tennis, but Special Olympic athletes earn the title every day of their lives,'' Hewitt said. "Their courage and success over daily challenges is the true definition of 'champion','' the sentiment sounded almost as impressive as the Special Olympics oath: "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.''

The USTA has done itself credit by granting a wild card to the men's doubles partnership of Amir Hadad, of Israel, and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi, of Pakistan. The pair, it may be remembered, drew an enthusiastic following at Wimbledon, where they advanced to the third round. The Pakistan Tennis Federation complained to the International Tennis Federation for sanctioning the partnership, but the ITF president, Francesco Ricci Vitti, stood by the decision in the name of sport.

Soon enough we shall be absorbed in the fluctuations of the tournament: worrying in case Tim Henman's injured right shoulder lets him down before he can rekindle his form and advance to a possible quarter-final confrontation with Greg Rusedski, his British Davis Cup team-mate; wondering if Rusedski will be able to sustain the recent form which brought him victories against the world's top three – Hewitt, Marat Safin and Tommy Haas – and earned him his second title of the year, in Indianapolis. For the moment, however, it is just good to be back.

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Fighter Hewitt still one to beat
By Robert Lusetich, Tennis
August 26, 2002

AT last year's US Open, the courtside cognoscenti opined that Lleyton Hewitt won because Pete Sampras had lost more than just hair follicles.

When the wilful young South Australian then became world No. 1, at the Masters Cup in Sydney, it was because Patrick Rafter was thinking more of retirement than tennis, because Andre Agassi's heart was with his baby and wife, not on a court in a faraway land, and because the likes of Sebastien Grosjean and Juan Carlos Ferrero were disadvantaged by playing on Hewitt's best surface and in front of his home crowds.

When he won Wimbledon, it was because the field was weak, because there were no great players left.

Another argument for all these successes was that they happened because there is only one great player left. Marat Safin, Tommy Haas (who is doubtful of playing in New York because of tendonitis in his right shoulder), Roger Federer, even Andy Roddick – the list of players who hit the ball harder than Hewitt goes on, but who would seriously take any of them above the little Australian?

As Hewitt returns to the forever altered Manhattan skyline to defend his US Open title today, he does so as the rightful top seed and favourite.

For all his off-court distractions, the ongoing cold war with journalists, the verbal volleys at the ATP, which he claims runs the men's tour like "a circus act", Hewitt, at 21, has an uncanny ability to focus on the task at hand better than any of his peers and arguably as well as anyone in history.

"What amazes me is the level of professionalism at only 21," Boris Becker said.

"He knows when to slow a match down, when to get excited and what levels of excitement bring out the best in him.

"In his attitude – a street fighter without a timid bone in his body – he's (Jimmy) Connors; but the way he moves, the way he paces the points, he's (Bjorn) Borg.

"He's the classic counter-puncher who also can win free points with his serve. In my mind, he can do what Borg did and win Wimbledon five times. He can win five US Opens, too. The guy is a lethal customer."

If the tennis coach to the stars, Nick Bollettieri, has to pick a favourite child among the dozens of prodigies he's sent on to the tour over the years, it would be Andre Agassi.

But even Bollettieri recognises that Agassi, probably the best American hope at what will be a Star Spangled US Open in the lead-up to September 11, does not match up well with Hewitt.

"If you have to bet, bet on Hewitt (to win the tournament)," Bollettieri said.

"Andre's stronger, Hewitt's faster. Andre creates shots, Hewitt puts those shots away . . . everything stacks up for Hewitt and the telling toll is that Andre is 11 years older."

With all the negative baggage that Hewitt carries around with him, and considering his well-publicised if over blown racism controversy with American James Blake and the foot fault calls of the only African-American official in their second-round match last year, he's hardly likely to be the people's favourite.

"The crowd doesn't worry me when I go out there," Hewitt said in an interview published yesterday in The Los Angeles Times.

"I'm able, for some reason, to block it out and play my best tennis."

Although the favourite, Hewitt will need his best tennis for back-to-back wins at Flushing Meadows and there is some cause for concern.

Firstly, his health. He had another recurrence of the stomach virus that has plagued him for at least two years in the week after Wimbledon, forcing a late withdrawal from the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles, and recently there have been back problems.

Hewitt's lead-in performances haven't been stellar, losing in the first round to Felix Mantilla in Toronto, falling to the eye-catching Carlos Moya (again) in the final at Cincinnati and being ousted in the third round by the rebounding Greg Rusedski in Indianapolis.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hewitt hints at schedule cuts
By Maria Hawthorne
25aug02
AAP

TENNIS fans should prepare to see less of Lleyton Hewitt next year, the world No.1 hinted again on the eve of his US Open title defence.

Wimbledon champion Hewitt, a hot favourite to win back-to-back grand slam titles, is still incensed at the prospect of a massive fine from the ATP Tour following a disagreement over a television interview at the Cincinnati Masters a fortnight ago.

The 21-year-old is considering slashing his ATP Tour tournament schedule to concentrate even more on the four grand slams and Davis Cup, which are organised by the International Tennis Federation.

It would probably mean sacrificing his No.1 ranking and risking potential sponsorship deals.

But Hewitt, who has won more than $US6.5 million ($A12 million) in prizemoney on top of a reported $A30 million in product endorsements, said he wanted to concentrate on the grand slams and the Davis Cup, which he helped to win for Australia in 1999.

"I love the grand slams," Hewitt said.

"Two slams, No.1 and Davis Cup - it doesn't get much better than that. Wimbledon meant an awful lot. An Australian hadn't won there for 15 years.

"Going into majors now is the priority and that's going to be the priority for the rest of my career.

"This is what I'm playing tennis for at the moment ... (and) it's lucky that the majors are still run by the ITF."

Hewitt's lawyers are considering legal action if the ATP Tour follows through with a potential $A193,065 fine - a record for any Australian athlete - for failing to do a television interview before his first-round match at Cincinnati.

He spoke out for the first time a week ago, describing the tour as a badly run "circus" and saying: "I'll change my schedule next year if the ATP keep up with this garbage. Next year I couldn't give two hoots about No.1."

Hewitt said he would temporarily put thoughts of the fine to one side as he prepared his bid to emulate his good mate Pat Rafter by winning consecutive US Open titles.

"I couldn't give two hoots about it at the moment," Hewitt said.

"I'm coming into a grand slam and that's pretty much where my focus is."

Hewitt spent the Saturday afternoon before his opening round match against unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Coutelot hitting balls around with 20 disabled athletes from the Special Olympics.

He appeared to genuinely enjoy the experience of playing against partially-sighted, mentally impaired and/or deaf athletes from New Jersey and New York, at one point smacking his racquet into the ground when his service return went into the net, and later tumbling over trying to win a point.

"It's pretty stressful when you're out there practising, so for me to come out and see these guys enjoying themselves so much, you really half-forget that you're out here preparing for such a big tournament in the next couple of days," Hewitt said.

"I came out here, I've enjoyed myself and I just relaxed."

Hewitt is one of three Australian men in the main draw, with Mark Philippoussis playing 24th seed Sjeng Schalken and big-serving lefthander Wayne Arthurs playing seventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Australian Davis Cup coach Wally Masur said Philippoussis has been showing great promise in recent tournaments.

"He's been playing a fair bit so his knee's in good shape and that's obviously the main thing," Masur said.

"Mark is a quality player. If his legs are right, five sets will suit him. You can go walkabout in a tour event and you lose a set and suddenly you're in a dogfight in the third.

"In a five set match, there's a few more ebbs and flows and the best player tends to win. He certainly can do well here."

Hewitt set to defend title

By Bill Scott, Liz Hannan
New York
August 25 2002

To watch Lleyton Hewitt on a tennis court is to believe that there is nothing else in the world that matters to him, and little place for compassion in the heady mix of talent and iron will that has transported him to world No. 1.

His recent feud with the ATP has only served to reinforce his reputation for steeliness. Every fist pump, every glare seems to warn: don't mess with me.

Secure in the company of his travelling entourage - devoted parents Glynn and Cherilyn, his girlfriend Kim Clijsters, coach Jason Stoltenberg and best mate Hayden Eckerman - he seems happiest when shutting the world out.

But 12 months ago - the day after his first grand slam win, at the United States Open - the world burst in, and Hewitt revealed he is indeed man, not machine.

The 20-year-old was one of the last people to leave New York aboard a Qantas flight in the hours before the September 11 terrorist strikes.

"It throws everything into perspective a little bit more," Hewitt said at the time. "It's great that I won a few matches, but there are a lot more (events) larger than a tennis match when you look at the bigger picture, and life in general."

A year later, he knows the city he left is not the city he returns to.

"I think it's going to be a different feeling on and off the court," he said this week. "It's a weird feeling, I guess. I was probably very fortunate not to be in New York at the time. I could easily have been stuck there.

"It's going to be a different feeling for the fact that one day I was driving around in a limousine with a trophy in my hand and having a lot of photos taken around Manhattan, and 24 hours later the whole world had changed."

Despite that reality, Hewitt understandably has a particular affection for Flushing Meadows.

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

"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 dear."

Unlike last year, however, this time Hewitt is expected to win and become the first man to defend his US Open title since fellow Australian Pat Rafter in 1997 and 1998.

But in typically confident style, Hewitt dismisses the pressures of being defending champion.

"It's my first time (defending the title). I'm not going to go in there with anything different to last year. I'm still going in there with the same attitude that I've got to beat seven guys to hold up the trophy again.

"I think it's obviously going to be a bit of a buzz for me, going back to a place that has changed my life in a lot of ways."

The usual suspects will line up against him, with No. 2 seed Marat Safin heading the charge. Safin, who won the 2000 US Open, has suffered a summer to forget, starting with an early defeat at Wimbledon.

German third seed Tommy Haas is currently a mixed threat, with his shoulder playing tricks, while fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov all but tanked in the Indianapolis first round but cannot be discounted.

Also looming as a potential opponent in the third round is American James Blake, over whom Hewitt launched a mid-match flare-up in the Open a year ago, sparking claims that he is a racist.

The controversy has faded, but Hewitt has another problem: the mystery virus that delivers occasional shortness of breath.

He took several days off after his triumphant Wimbledon campaign to consult a doctor. During that time he did no exercise and existed on fruit, milk and water.

"It hasn't affected me, especially in the US Open last year and Wimbledon this year," he said in up-beat fashion. "I can't see why it would be any different in New York."

Hewitt is putting aside the virus and his feud with the ATP to concentrate on his first-round match with Frenchman Nicolas Coutelet. His passage to the semi-finals will be tough although not overwhelming but, should he get there, he could face ninth seed Carlos Moya or sixth seed Andre Agassi.

"At the end of the day the US Open is a big one for me and, as long as I've hit my straps by then I'll be happy."

Then has arrived. Now is the time to perform.

- with Reuters

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hewitt reflects on Sept 11

By Maria Hawthorne
25aug02
AFP

WORLD No.1 tennis player Lleyton Hewitt admits it feels strange coming back to the US Open a year after September 11.

Last year's tournament in New York was a turning point for Hewitt, giving him his first grand slam title and allowing him to secure his No.1 ranking by the end of the year.

But two days after his victory, terrorists flew two hijacked planes into the World Trade Centre, killing almost 4,000 people.

"It's a weird thing, a very weird thing," Hewitt said of his return to New York.

"This is a place which I'm coming back to which changed my life in so many ways both on and off the court.

"It's a huge burden to get off your back, winning your first grand slam and it was quite a fitting place for me to do it in New York, I think.

"Then the tragedy happened and it was pretty hard to put it all in perspective."

Hewitt was on a flight home when the attack occurred.

"I was on a flight when it happened last year and I got off in Australia and the whole world had changed in 24 hours," he said.

"It's tough to come back here, it's a different situation but I think sport and the US Open is a good way for people to try and get over September 11 in whatever way possible."

Hewitt will play unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Coutelot in the first round when the tournament begins on Monday.

CASH: HARD TO SEE PAST HEWITT
By Pat Cash

It's hard to look past Lleyton Hewitt at the US Open.

Lleyton's proved that he's clearly the world's number one player and the player to beat.

His Wimbledon victory was very easy. He did it in style and the hardcourt has always been his favourite surface.

He struggles a little bit in the very fast conditions against the big servers which we saw last week against Greg Rusedski who knocked him off.

At the end of the day, over five sets, it's going to be a different story.

Hewitt's very, very tough to beat and I have him as the favourite.

Hewitt could play Andre Agassi in the quarter-finals.

That should be a great match, but Agassi is starting to show he's just gone over the hill.

We've been wondering if that was the case for a year and didn't know for sure.

But it's obvious now that he has gone over the hill.

If he plays Hewitt, that's always an if of course, I think Hewitt would be too good over five sets - he'd just be too strong.

Similar things can be said of Pete Sampras.

Unfortunately even though Sampras did do extremely well at the US Open last year, it's basically the end for him.

I can't see him getting through too many rounds or too many tough matches.

It's been a fantastic career, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Sampras go out early and announce his retirement. He's certainly getting very close to it.

If he's still willing to put the effort in he can still do well. But I can see him certainly taking short cuts - not willing to put the effort in that he used to, which was a phenomenal effort.

I can't really blame him, but I'm also not expecting Pete to do that well.

On the other side of the draw, Tommy Haas is a young German player who's been improving year in, year out.

His ranking has been going up, his game's getting very solid but most importantly he's getting mentally tough.

He's always been mentally fragile in the past and didn't used to be able to hang in there and play tough matches.

Now he's willing to go that extra mile and play the extra shot to win the point and his ranking has shown that.

He hasn't knocked off the top guys consistently yet, but he's one of the guys that you think 'maybe it's his breakthrough tournament'.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him get through Sampras and go on to the semi-final.

Andy Roddick is a player who was expected to do very well this year but he hasn't performed at all.

Last year at the US Open if he'd sneaked through the match against Hewitt in the quarter-finals - which had a very dubious line call towards the end which would have given him an opportunity to win the match - I reckon he could have won the tournament.

He becomes a better player playing in his home country and in New York the whole atmosphere is electric.

I think he will do well again this year and I'd certainly put him as one of my dark horses.

He's a semi-finalist, finalist or even a potential winner this year. These are outside bets, but he's got a lot to warrant making that decision.

Marat Safin is a strange one. He's one of, if not the most talented player there.

He's a better all-round player than a guy like Roger Federer. He's got more power and more shots than a guy like Haas, and more power and more shots than a guy like Hewitt.

But he only puts it together every once in a while. And unfortunately you never know when it's going to be.

He does take a few short cuts as well in training which catch him out at the end of the day.

He did reach the final of the Australian Open on a similar surface, but just ran out of gas altogether.

But if everything goes right for him - he plays at night and has a few easy matches - he could drop into the form that saw him win the US Open in the year 2000.

Carlos Moya was a surprise winner in the Masters Series recently.

Moya is a pedigree player. He can do really well on the hardcourts. He's been in the final of the Australian Open before, but he's had quite a few injuries over the last year or so.

Even though he's really a claycourter, I think he's got more penetration on a hardcourt. He's a dark horse for sure.

I don't know how David Nalbandian will conme through after Wimbledon and Xavier Malisse, who made the semi-finals there, is a guy with potential and he's one of my favourite dark horses.

But overall I can't see past Hewitt.

He's tough, he's determined and is still young - not burnt out.

Obviously he's had a very, very big year but I just can't go past him as a winner.

As for another finalist, well I'd like to say Roddick but I'm not too sure.

-Pat Cash was talking to Andy Schooler.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday August 24, 2002 3:36 PM AEST

Hewitt confident of back-to-back US Opens

Twelve months ago Lleyton Hewitt was jostling for position among a new generation of players, with a bright future ahead of him but still to prove himself on the big stage.

When the Australian steps into New York's Flushing Meadows arena next week he will be defending a grand slam title for the first time and is, most certainly, the man to beat in men's tennis.

In a whirlwind 12 months the explosive baseliner has won the 2001 US Open and this year's Wimbledon, finished the year ranked world number one and contended with a bout of chicken pox.

Now he cannot wait to get back to an arena he loves.

"The US Open holds a very special place for me, being the first place I really performed well in a grand slam," he says, looking forward to the fourth and final slam of the season.

"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 dear."

Defending a grand slam brings with it different pressures, but Hewitt shrugs them off with typical confidence.

"It's my first time. I'm not going to go in there with anything different to last year.

"I'm still going in there with the same attitude that I've got to beat seven guys to hold up the trophy again.

I think it's obviously going to be a bit of a buzz for me, going back to a place that has changed my life in a lot of ways.

"I really look forward to getting back there."

New York is a different place since Hewitt's last visit after the September 11 attacks, and the 21-year-old knows a different atmosphere will prevail at the raucous major.

"I think it's going to be a different feeling on and off the court," he said.

"It's a weird feeling, I guess. I was probably very fortunate not to be in New York at the time. I could very easily have been stuck there.

"It's going to be a different feeling for the fact that one day I was driving around in a limousine with a trophy in my hand and having a lot of photos taken around Manhattan, and 24 hours later the whole world had changed.

"I think it's going to be different, not just for myself."

Revised US Open draw gives relief to Hewitt

SYDNEY, Aug 21 AAP - The withdrawal of two injured seeds has handed Lleyton Hewitt some welcome relief ahead of his US Open defence starting in New York next week.

Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson (shoulder), the 12th seed and 15th-seeded Argentinian Guillermo Canas (wrist) have both pulled out on the tournament's eve, forcing officials to release a revised draw for the year's final grand slam.

And it would have left Hewitt breathing a huge sigh of relief. The world No.1 was scheduled to meet Greg Rusedski in the second round - in his first event since the British dangerman dumped the Australian out of the last week's Indianapolis Open in straight sets.

Instead, Rusedski has been promoted to 33rd seed and moved to the bottom half of the draw. Hewitt will now face a lucky loser qualifier if, as expected, he negotiates world No.103 Nicolas Coutelot in the first round.

Rusedski, though, might not be as pleased with his amended schedule. While the big-serving Brit - runner-up to Patrick Rafter at Flushing Meadows in 1997 - won't have to battle Hewitt unless they both reach the final, Rusedski will still have his work cut out progressing through the tournament.

The Indianapolis Open champion has been shifted to a tough quarter featuring third seed Tommy Haas, fifth-seeded compatriot Tim Henman, fellow seeds Alex Corretja, Andy Roddick and four-times champion Pete Sampras, the runner-up the last two years.

Rusedski is on track to meet Sampras in the third round, Haas in the last 16 and Henman in the quarter-finals. Hewitt is still drawn to meet talented black American James Blake in the third round. Blake, the 25th seed, is among the form players on tour, having broken through for his first tournament success last week on hardcourt in Washington.

The highest remaining seed in Hewitt's quarter is 14th seed Jiri Novak, but Spanish nemesis Carlos Moya, the ninth seed, or sixth seed Andre Agassi await in the semi-finals.

The revised draw has not affected the early paths of fellow Australians Mark Philippoussis and Wayne Arthurs. Mark Philippoussis is up against 24th-seeded Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, while Arthurs has a date with seventh-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Australian Davis Cup squad member Peter Luczak kept alive his hopes of a main draw berth with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Austrian Alexander Peya in the second round of men's qualifying overnight.
But compatriot Christina Wheeler lost her second-round match in the women's qualifying event 6-1 6-0 to Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti.

US Open preview by Kate Flory

Hewitt, Safin and Agassi. They seem to be the popular choice of names when answering questions about US Open favourites. But recent results and happenings could suggest that the New York Slam won’t be as clear cut as that.

Tennis is regularly unpredictable, Wimbledon 2002 was a classic example of shock finalists and early exits. Could the same happen at the US Open? In the last 3 weeks, tournament winners include Canas, Moya, Rusedski and Blake. Not names, when looking at the respective fields one would have picked out immediately. We are once again seeing names normally associated with clay court events; clay court specialists in general certainly exceeded expectations at SW19, who’s to say they won’t do it again at the US? Rusedski regularly predicts himself for the Grand Slams, he reached the final in 1997, could he finally achieve his dream?

Of course the Americans can never be discounted. Pete Sampras has reached the final for the past 2 years after beating several potential finalists along the way, could he prove the critics wrong? Andy Roddick has had a somewhat disappointing year in the Slams, can he start to live up to his potential? He made a big impression last year and is a big crowd pleaser, perhaps it could be his year. Andre Agassi’s record says it all, he has won it twice already and despite a disappointing build up he can always pull it out when it matters. One cannot overlook James Blake after his recent tournament victory in Legg Mason. He has a bright future ahead of him, and although may not be a contender just yet, he has the game to trouble the very best.

The previous two year’s winners cannot be discounted. Hewitt although surrounded by some controversy at present generally uses that to his advantage and should prove to be the toughest contender at the Open. He made the final in Cincinatti and is looking strong ahead of the US. Safin’s name is always cast in doubt when one considers his mental strength. Can he hold it together for seven games? He’s proven to the world that he can and is determined to do it again.

All things considered it is shaping up to be an interesting tournament. Nobody is looking like an obvious choice, yet no-one can be discounted. But don’t be surprised if it is the 3^rd surprise Grand Slam winner of the year.

Hewitt leaves rivals standing

Hewitt's never-say-die attitude sets him apart

by Caroline Cheese
BBC Sport Online, August 23, 2002

Before winning the 2001 US Open, Lleyton Hewitt was accused in some quarters of not being quite good enough to win the major titles.

It is certainly not an accusation that could be levelled at him now, after the 21-year-old followed up his maiden Grand Slam with wins in the prestigious Tennis Masters Cup and at Wimbledon.

In truth, the world number one has one of the most potent weapons in the men's game.

"There's always a chance you're going to lose, but it never enters my mind when I'm out there playing", says Lleyton Hewitt

While his fellow young contenders have failed to marry talent with consistency, Hewitt has shown a loathing of defeat which has drawn comparisons with Jimmy Connors.

Even when playing below his best, Hewitt has an ability to harry, fight and retrieve which outshines every other player on the tour.

It is a quality the player himself cites as his greatest.

"A lot of guys would probably opt for the easier option rather than hang out there and keep fighting," he said recently. There's always a chance that you're going to lose, but it never enters my mind when I'm out there playing."

When Andre Agassi first took on Hewitt, then aged 16, he lost in straight sets, saying later: "I didn't give him enough respect - I think I was convinced he would go away."

That forlorn hope has accounted for many more after Agassi but if the combative attitude serves him well on the court, it has not won him favour off it.

Controversy has followed Hewitt throughout his career, not least at last year's Open when he was accused of making racist remarks during a second-round match against James Blake.

But if anything, the fiery Australian thrives on, and perhaps needs, the 'me-against-them' scenario.

No surprise, then, that his hero is the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, the ultimate underdog.

At the Cincinnati Masters, he became embroiled in an argument with the ATP for his refusal to carry out a five-minute interview with a television broadcaster, and threatened not to play his first-round match.

He made it to the court, though, and thrashed the unfortunate Robby Ginepri 6-0 6-0 before launching into a bitter tirade about what he perceived as unfair treatment.

His testy relations with the media have not helped his popularity in his home country, where comparisons with Patrick Rafter had already shown him in an unfavourable light.

But there is nothing that Australia likes more than a winner.

And Hewitt's current status as the world's best player, along with his devotion to the Davis Cup, cause has gone some way to improving his image.

Not that any of that will bother the player, who craves winning as much as he repels the attention that goes with it.

He refuses to allow external influences to upset his much-vaunted focus, another intimidating part of his increasing armoury.

Add to that a serve which has developed in pace and variety even since last year's US Open win, and it is difficult to argue against another Hewitt victory.

Like Connors before him, Hewitt shows no sign of maturing and softening his attitude towards those who dare to criticise.

But to do so would blunt the very weapon which has him peering down at his rivals from a very lofty height.

http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no18hewitt.html

August 21, 2002

Aussie Rules

By Curry Kirkpatrick

ESPN The Magazine


The new face of men's tennis was going to be Russian, a huge grinning wolfhound swatting the game into untold nether reaches of muscle and power. Or Spanish. Or Argentine. Or Brazilian, its happy-go-lucky personality sauntering to a samba backbeat. Or maybe -- post-Sampras, post-Agassi -- the new face of men's tennis was going to be another American, a tall, strong hero from the heartland who would not only Save the Men's Game but might even stand a chance of whipping those You-Know-Who sisters after they got bored pounding the poor women and took on the other half of humanity. But because of strain or pressure or hormonal disorder or the stock market, all those new faces seem to have faded into the rearview mirror on tennis' road to perdition. Instead, rising from the ashes of a sport that has longed for the days of Borg and Connors and even the best-selling author, TV commentator and America's Psycho Guest McEnroe, comes a kind of conglomeration of all of them.


There's no love lost between Hewitt and well, everyone.
His name is Lleyton Hewitt. A former surf baby from Australia, he's a straggly-haired, cap-backward, boulder-on-his-shoulder malcontent who has won both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon without most people outside tennis knowing much about him. Or caring. And that's just the way he wants it.

"I choose what's right for me," Hewitt said at Wimbledon after he'd almost lost to Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, then pulverized poor homebody Tim Henman and finally eliminated everybody else, ending with Argentine David Nalbandian, for the championship. "I'm not going to go out and do every interview. That's not right for my tennis, not in my best interest. Off the court I'm shy, more private than a lot of people."

Well and good. Given their druthers, wouldn't most of our sporting legends (save Charles Barkley and Tatum's ex-hubby) rather just hit their home runs, swish their baskets, score their TDs and spend their millions while skipping all those media and commercial and fan obligations? Sure they would, and Hewitt -- bless his enormous, fighting heart that seems four sizes bigger than his bony, 5-foot-11 (sure!), 150-pound (when soaked!) body -- does something about it. Namely, nothing.

Perceptive, even pleasant in the mass interviews required of him at the Grand Slams, Hewitt has almost surreptitiously (but absolutely) dominated his sport over the past year while denying face time to, among others, the trio of Australian beat writers whose job it is to report on him daily, a couple of Australian TV channels and, remarkably, The Times of London -- the latter slap setting off a somewhat hilarious huffy fit, to wit:

Hewitt's agent, Tom Ross: "You've dug yourself a very large hole with Lleyton."

The Times' Neil Harman: "If he doesn't want to speak to the most important newspaper in the world, you can both f-- off."

Pretty much the same treatment has been afforded The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated and -- speaking of the most important publication in the world -- this magazine. Okay, we're the media. But ESPN? Before the Tennis Masters Series in Cincinnati, which the network televised? Now that's getting downright ornery.

It's all happened so quickly: taking over the game with the panache of Borg, the heart of Connors and the 'tude of Mac ... changing coaches in midstream ... romancing the universally popular Belgian Top-10er, Kim Clijsters ... endearing himself to all the classic Aussie gentlemen stars of the past even while wallowing in politically incorrect, even racist, controversies in the present.

A couple of years ago, Hewitt was thought to be too short and scrawny, too lacking in the solid weapons needed to survive among the game's Big Bashers. He was even nixed as a mixed doubles partner by none other than Anna Kournikova for being "not accomplished enough." Last year he was just another one of those "New Balls Please" poster boys for an ATP Tour praying for somebody to replace the two-headed Sampragassian cash cow. One of his few press defenders, Richard Evans of The Sunday Times in London, described him as "a grunting, fist-pumping young pup with an attitude ... [who] thought winning necessitated behaving like a starving rottweiler."

Last September, when Hewitt shocked Sampras in straight sets to win the Open, the prevailing notion was that the old champion was running on empty after grueling battles against Agassi and defending titleholder Marat Safin. Even after he became, at 20, the youngest No.1 in ATP history by beating mentor-idol-countryman Pat Rafter at the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney last November, it seemed obvious Hewitt was simply the beneficiary of everybody else reaching senility, suffering injury or not caring. After all, here was this skinny, blond, ever-yapping ("Come on!") kid who called himself Rock after the Rocky movies, who stayed on the baseline and hardly ever volleyed and who, in his first Slam after gaining the top rank, lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Alberto Martin of Spain because of ... chicken pox!! This guy couldn't be the best player on the planet, could he?

Well, yeah. And by a lot.

After all, Hewitt first drilled Agassi way back when he was a 16-year-old high school junior, stunningly winning his hometown Adelaide tournament. (He never went back to class.) He first thrashed Sampras two years ago when he won the Wimbledon warmup event at Queen's for the first of his three-peat titles there. "This guy is the future of tennis," Sampras said then, obviously unaware of how soon that future would arrive.

Even though he didn't grow up on grass -- unlike the other legends of Oz, Laver and Emerson and Newcombe -- Hewitt now seems more at home on it than on any other surface. "Several months ago, I just had a warm feeling about Wimbledon, coming back to it," Hewitt said in London. "I knew the victories at Queen's, even my prior losses on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, would help me this time."

In his first Centre Court visit, in 1999, when Hewitt was beaten by Boris Becker, the typically emotional roustabout was uncharacteristically in awe of the setting and in restraint of himself. "It was the 'class factor,'" he said then. "I've always tried to get in my opponent's face. Bring the aggression and passion from football to my game. But at Wimbledon, the Centre Court doesn't let you be you. It was like a church, a morgue. The place is intimidating. But then so was Boris."

Hewitt, who was a promising Aussie Rules footballer, still worships his hometown Adelaide Crows. "Competitiveness, fire, never giving up has always been in my blood. Aussie Rules is a pretty punchy sport, and I learned to survive. I'm one of the most mentally tough guys around. Other people hate to play me because they know I'm never-say-die."

Wimbledon 1999 was probably the last time a player or court intimidated Hewitt. With drive, talent and focus, as well as an uncanny ability to learn from experience, the South Australian has rarely seemed out of his element since swaddling clothes.

Whomp Todd Martin in his Davis Cup debut at Boston in 1999? Hey, he'd been an "orange boy" (fetching fruit for the mates) on the Aussie Davis Cup team when his hero, Rafter, was pulling off his own Cup heroics. Blitz Henman on the Englishman's own turf? Hey, Hewitt went all the way to Brazil in April 2001 and pounded Guga Kuerten in a Davis Cup match at Florianapolis. Embarrass the all-time majors record-holder, Sampras, in Hewitt's first Grand Slam final, the 2001 U.S. Open? Hey, he'd scared the bejesus out of the Pistol a year earlier in the Open semis, forcing two tiebreakers.

Facing down Wimbledon's veteran baiters from the fourth estate was a piece of cake for a guy who, in the past, has squirreled out of controversies at the French, where he once called an umpire "a spastic," and at Flushing Meadow, where he had to apologize to James Blake. "Are you more likely to be beaten up in the locker room than anyone else?" somebody asked Hewitt during the recent All England Club fortnight. "Doesn't really worry me," said Mr. Aussie Wonderful. "Bit of a silly question, isn't it?"

Hewitt's been taking vicious hits since 1999, when a newspaper columnist called him a "national disgrace." (Angered that an Adelaide crowd cheered against him because he had questioned a line call when he was up 5-0 on some pitiful wild card, Hewitt had uttered the immortal: "It's weird, but it's the stupidity of the Australian public.") Two years ago, an Australian magazine labeled him the country's "least admired sportsperson."

Before his recent press boycott, Hewitt told The Magazine: "I've grown up in tennis. This is what I've dreamed of doing forever. The role models may seem strange, but I always enjoyed watching the Swedes play -- Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg. I remember Connors' comeback in the 1991 Open, when he was so old, watching early in the morning from Australia. I could relate to that. And McEnroe? He took on the crowd, yelled at officials, bitched at everybody. That was his way, and I'm probably a lot like that. I've learned not to be inhibited."

The fist-pumping, chest-pounding and screaming at spectators, officials and players have kept Hewitt in hot water for much of his brief career. In his French Open debut in 1999, he called Argentine Martin Rodriguez an "ass--." Before a Davis Cup match the same year, when Yevgeny Kafelnikov vowed to teach Hewitt a lesson, the teenager kept screaming at the Russian, "I'm not going down!" Then, after winning easily, he held up some cash to mock paying for the "lesson" and said he'd enjoyed "sticking it to somebody who mouths off."

Even the low-key Alex Corretja of Spain calls Hewitt "an unfriendly guy who thinks he's a know-it-all when he's on court." Says Agassi's former coach, Brad Gilbert: "I'd be amazed if somebody doesn't whack him in the locker room."

But it's becoming increasingly difficult to whack Hewitt elsewhere, primarily because of his solidity off the ground and a deadly return game built on the fastest feet in the business. "I used to think Borg was the quickest guy I'd ever seen in tennis," says McEnroe. "Now I'm not so sure."

There were 33 players in the Wimbledon field with faster serves than Hewitt's best (124 mph). But opponents won only 35 percent of their second-serve points against his defense. Last year Hewitt led the tour in points won against second serve with an astounding 55 percent. Over all his matches in the past two years, Hewitt's 35 percent winning return games has also led the circuit. "His hand-eye coordination is just amazing," says left-handed Aussie rocket launcher Wayne Arthurs. "Put him on any surface -- grass, hardcourt, clay, cow paddock, I don't care -- he'll still hit the ball in the middle."

Henman, ever the thoughtful analyst and arguably the preeminent volleyer in the game, describes how it felt to play one of his best matches at Wimbledon, yet be smashed like an overripe strawberry, 7-5, 6-1, 7-5, by the relentless Hewitt: "I tried different tactics, different variations. But his legs are a massive asset. Unless you ace him, serving and volleying is probably a negative because you're playing into his biggest strength. You almost want to border on being negative in the rallies. You want to wait for a short one and then you don't really want to hit an approach shot because if you give him a chance to hit a pass, he'll hit it. You've just got to stay at the baseline and give him no pace. You either hit a winner or make a mistake. Approaching, winning points from the net, that doesn't work against him."

Consider the impression Hewitt made on the retired master, Becker: "What amazes me is the level of professionalism at only 21. He knows when to slow a match down, when to get excited and what levels of excitement bring out the best in him. Much of what I did was instinctive. But this guy has to spend a lot more time thinking on the court. In his attitude -- a street fighter without a timid bone in his body -- he's Connors. But the way he moves, the way he paces the points, he's Borg. He's the classic counterpuncher who also can win free points from his serve. In my mind he can do what Borg did and win Wimbledon five times. He can win five U.S. Opens, too. The guy is a lethal customer." Scion to a rich athletic heritage, Hewitt credits his competitive zeal to a gene pool stirred by his father, Glynn, a former football player with Richmond in the old Victorian League (now the Australian Football League), and his mother, Cherilyn, a phys ed instructor and netball player. (Netball is a combination of basketball and team handball that's hugely popular in Australia.)

"He's almost shy at home, but the court has always brought out the extrovert in him," says Glynn. "As Lleyton went through the club ranks and various divisions, he'd always have to play older men. If he'd get dodgy line calls, thought he was hooked, it wouldn't matter how old the other guy was, he'd let him know it. He's never taken a backward step on a tennis court."

John Newcombe, who's grown to admire Hewitt since bringing him onto the Davis Cup team as one of those orange boys, says he's the man to bring tennis out of its doldrums: "We once worried that his fire in the belly would turn into negativity. But he's beyond that bad stuff, and he's learning more every day. To suggest he's Connors or McEnroe is wrong. Those people were bullies on court. Lleyton's not. He's a lovely young bloke."

A bloke who may be on the verge of dominating the block on all surfaces. Hewitt's lack of a putaway killer shot has hindered progress on the slow, heavy dirt, where he's still learning to power through the ball in the manner of Kuerten, Corretja and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. But as he defends his title at the Open, he'll undoubtedly rely on the good memories from last year's event, as well as his victory over the star field at Indian Wells, Calif., in March, when he defeated former No.1 Carlos Moya, Thomas Enquist, Sampras and Henman (losing but nine total games in the latter two matches).

"Reaching No.1, winning Wimbledon, knowing your name will go up on the boards with all the greats, it's what every Australian kid who picks up a racket dreams of," says Hewitt. "For me to be there at the age of 21 is incredible."

Not to mention that the next time he asks Anna K to play doubles, she just might take his call.


This article appears in the September 2 issue of ESPN The Magazine.