SEMIFINAL
A. AGASSI/L. Hewitt 6-4 7-6 6-7 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Obviously pretty disappointing?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he was too good on the day, though. You know, I felt like I had chances there, obviously up a break in -- up a break in the first set. Just struggled in the wind there for a few games and basically that probably cost me the first set.
Then in the second set, serving for it 5-3, fought back, 15-40 down, back to deuce. Sort of let that one slip as well.
So could have been easily up two sets to one, I guess, rather than two sets to one down there.
I felt like I was starting to get on top in the fourth at 2-1, Love-30 I had in the fourth. Felt like I was starting to get another chance there. And, you know, to his credit, he came up with four big points then. I don't think I played too badly in those points.
Then I went 30-Love up in the next game. It was huge. Those two games were a huge swing there.

Q. Do you feel your serve let you down at all?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I didn't serve great. I served, you know, in patches, I think. I wasn't able to -- against a guy like Andre, you got to make a high percentage of first serves. I wasn't able to do that. I was battling it out with, you know, second serve.

Q. How did the crowd affect you, Lleyton? Obviously they were very pro-Andre?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I've played in a lot worse places (laughter).
Didn't worry me at all.

Q. Although you won't be there tomorrow, the sense of I guess history, having Sampras and Agassi in that final?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's big for tennis. It's a great matchup. Don't ask me who's gonna win, 'cause I got no idea. It's one of those things, you know... Both -- their records speak for itself. But I'm not even going to go out -- and I've got no idea. I think it just depends on the day how both guys pull up. It's gonna be a great match.

Q. When you came into this US Open, there was still a lot of lingering stuff from last year. Do you feel in a way that at the end of it all, even though obviously you're not going to win the championship, do you feel in a way it's been a good experience for you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's been all right. I feel like I came here and I played as well as I probably could have. I've made the semis. I can be proud of myself for coming back here in tough situations and, you know, trying to defend your title here. Gutsing some tough matches out.
There's no, you know, shame for me in losing to Andre Agassi in a semi of a Slam. He's one of the greatest players ever to live. Sure, I'd love to be out there tomorrow, but, you know, I'm sure I'm going to get a lot more chances, too.

Q. To a lot of us it did look this week that you were considerably more subdued than you've been in the past in various places. Did you feel a little bit like the place was leaning in on you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really.

Q. Like you had to be different?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I felt like I got pumped up when I needed to. Just in today's match, if I needed to get fired up when I broke back or went up a break, then I did it. It's hard to get fired up against a guy like Andre when you get 30-love up, he'll come back, smack four winners and it's a waste of energy.

Q. A lot of the commentators this week have been saying this was the match that was likely to trouble you. Did you go into this match today feeling that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: There's a lot of guys that can trouble you - I guess, trouble me out there, but obviously Andre's one of the best players in the world. Be silly thinking that you're going to have a pushover out there.
He was always going to be a big match. I think any semifinal in a Slam is a big match as well. I don't think just because I was playing Andre Agassi, it was any tougher than playing Tim Henman at Wimbledon.
They're all tough matches, you know. The situation as well as the guy at the other end.

Q. Does the fact that you made the semifinals and dug deep take some out of the sting of not defending your title?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. You know, I can be -- I laid everything I had out there on center court this week. I can't do anything else. I can look in the mirror tonight and, you know, know that I went out there and I gave everything I had trying to defend the title.

Q. Does it take some of the sting out of the hurt of not defending your title?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, I'm not the kind of person that goes out and tanks matches anyway. For me, as long as I put it all on the line every time, then I can be proud of myself. It's the same in a lot of tournaments when, you know, very rarely do you win tournaments.
A lot of my losses, I can still, you know, look at the way I played and, you know, knowing that I didn't, you know, go out there and tank any points. I played as well as I could and he was just too good on the day.

Q. The last three times that you've met you've beaten him. How different was it today to those three times?
A. It was funny, you know. He's actually started a lot better in the past than he did today. You know, just about every match that I've played him before, he's come out of the gates straightaway. You know, he was a bit slow out of the gates today. Then I started struggling with the wind a little bit, didn't quite -- wasn't quite aggressive enough when I went up that break early in the first set. That gave him the chance to -- Andre's the kind of guy you can't give a second chance to.
A. And, you know, he started pounding on me then, and, you know, I wasn't making enough first serves. You know, it's, of course, different. We never played a best-of-five-set match either. So in that way it was a lot different.

Q. Is it irritating or downright strange to look up and see someone who coached you for so long in his box?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. We played twice before, and... It's not that strange.

Q. Do you think that it gave Andre an advantage having a coach that knew your game so well?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Didn't work the two times before, so I don't know. You tell me.

Q. If it hadn't been at your expense today, would you think that an Andre-Pete final is a great story for tennis?
LLEYTON HEWITT: For sure. It's -- you know, as I said, you know, with me not being, you know -- if I'm not allowed to be in the final, then I'd love to see these two guys go for a final. I think everyone would. I think it's great for men's tennis.
But sooner or later, you know, when they do retire, the only downside is people are going to keep wanting to see Agassi-Sampras finals and it's not going to be there five, ten years' time.
But, you know, I think it's probably more so Sampras getting to the final more than Agassi. I think that, you know, it hasn't shocked me, but I think it shocked the media and the public more than anything.

Q. When you see the sort of hype surrounding that match and how people are talking about that match, you're the No. 1 player. Do you think you need somebody -- do you long to have somebody with whom you can build that kind of relationship and that kind of intensity over the rest of your potential careers?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it would be nice to have a rivalry going like Agassi, Sampras have had for so many years, to be in as many Grand Slam finals as those two have as well.
But who knows? I got no idea whether that will happen or not. You know, I've only made, you know, two Grand Slam finals. These guys have made so many. I've got to keep trying to give myself as good a possibility or good a chance every time going into Slams to get to the final. And then, you know, maybe I'll have, you know, Roddick or Federer or Safin or someone up the other end most times; I don't know.

Q. Would you like to? You'd like to have that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I think it's good for tennis. Connors, McEnroe, Borg, all these guys, personalties out there. Going for Grand Slams and big tournaments, you know. This year, we've had obviously Costa and Johansson winning Slams. We haven't had the big names like Agassi, Sampras in the spotlight.

Q. Who's your pick for tomorrow?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Didn't you hear me before or not...? I said I'm not gonna make a call.

Q. Along that same line, are you surprised that nobody's stepped up? I mean, it takes a guy from sort of, you know, who's got a long resume already to stop you rather than one of, you know, your contemporaries going head-to-head with you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, I don't know. I think we all saw how Sampras disposed of Roddick a couple of nights ago. You know, he's just not quite ready for it. There's Safin. Obviously, he's there some weeks and not there others. You know, I feel like I'm putting myself in a good position to be in most Slams now. Obviously, the last two Slams have been great - the French, made the Round of 16; the Australian Open didn't go to plan.
So I feel like I'm putting myself there in a position. Whether other guys are going to step up, I don't know. I got no idea.

Q. What's your focus now? Is it year-end No. 1? To build for the Australian Open?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Trying to qualify for the Davis Cup. You know, that comes first I guess next, you know, what is it? A week and a half, two weeks' time.
We'll try and get through that match. And, yeah, then after that, you know, I'm playing Tokyo, Madrid and Paris. I give myself a good chance of getting No. 1. You know, if I get it, great. If I don't, then it's not the biggest deal.

Q. In the tiebreak in the third set, did you feel that was going to propel you into the fourth and change the momentum?
LLEYTON HEWITT: As I said before, I felt like, you know, I had 2-1, Love-30 in the fourth set, I felt that was a slight opportunity for me. He closed the door on me pretty quick in that game. I didn't feel like I played that bad a game. I made him play, made him come up with winners on those four points and he was able to do it.
The next game I had 30-Love, I was playing from the better end those two games. That was a big turning point in the fourth set.

Q. Do you think the people here have a more accurate idea of who you are than they did last year, who you are as a person?
LLEYTON HEWITT: In some ways I guess. They saw how I, you know, how I handled everything I guess when I had to play American players; and, you know, how I was able to block out, you know, all the attention and everything going into the Blake match; and how I was able to put my head down and work extremely hard and dig out an extremely tough match against a talented player. For that, I guess that's another thing I can be proud of myself.

Q. Is there any quality of yours that you think the tennis public misunderstands?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. I have to think about it.

Q. Would you be pleased when you turn 32 to be playing at the level that Andre's playing at now? What would that mean to you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I would be happy to still be playing.

Q. With Davis Cup qualifying looming, are you heading straight back to Australia, or will you take some time out in New York?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. We have to wait and see.

Q. Have you actually been home since Wimbledon?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I haven't been home since San Jose, after the chicken pox.

Q. Are you looking forward to getting home?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's gonna be great.

Q. Do you know whether there's anything planned for you on your return?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I'm not sure.

Q. Would you like there to be?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Doesn't worry me. I'm not thinking about it right at the moment.

Q. What are the first three things you're looking forward to doing?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Probably going, talking to the Crows, firing them up for next week.

Q. They need a talking to.
LLEYTON HEWITT: They struggled. Next week, we have Collingwood in the prelim. Pretty good.

Q. Did you check the result on the Internet, or do you phone home?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I saw it on the Internet this morning.

(Note: this is a partial transcript)

 

L. HEWITT/Y. El Aynaoui Quarterfinal

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. The first set, if there's such a sort of thing as perfect, you were pretty perfect.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I came out and, you know, tried to attack from the start, and I knew that for some reason that he was pretty slow out of the blocks, I felt as well. He didn't quite serve as well; I was sort of on his serve right from the start. He wasn't quite hitting the corners. Then he got better and better as the match went on, which I expected him to do.
But I was happy definitely to get off to a good start and get that first set under my belt.

Q. The wind seemed to be causing havoc with your serve?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, was tough out there. Tough conditions. Sometimes I felt like it was going directly down the court, straight down. Then it was other times where I felt it was swirling around and I didn't know where it was coming from. Tough conditions to play in.
But I've played actually a lot of matches here on that center court probably in worse conditions than today. So it's tough for both players. You can't do much about it.

Q. Did you feel that, you obviously knew he finished at 2:30 in the morning the other day. He went to bed at 7 or something.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Did he?

Q. Yeah. He worked out and had some food.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Worked out?

Q. Went to bed at 7 o'clock. Did you know there was a likelihood that, you know, the longer it went on, the more tired he'd get?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, actually I didn't think he'd get tired. I've seen him before and I've seen him play a lot of tough five-setters, especially on clay, which is probably a more demanding surface. You know, his fitness is pretty good, I thought, in the past. I wasn't expecting him to get tired. Then again I thought maybe half way through the fourth set he was starting to struggle a little bit out there, which obviously had probably a lot to do with the other night - just throwing his whole routine out the window, I guess.
You know, so that was a little bit surprising to me, that, you know, a lot of those Moroccan guys are extremely fit guys.

Q. There's a good chance you'll play Agassi. Have you given that any thought, given he's the player that's the most likely to trouble you here?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It's gonna be a tough match. If I have to play Andre, I've got to play as well as I can if I'm going to win. But then again he's got to play as well as he can.
So, you know, we've had some pretty good matches in the past. We've never played at a Slam. That part will be interesting. But, you know, I got to go out there with the same attitude that I have to play my game and hopefully it matches up well on the day.

Q. Are you going to watch the match tonight to scout the players? Do you feel like you already know them pretty well?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I know them pretty well. I might watch a little bit on TV, but not a lot. You know, got a funny feeling that if Andre gets through, I won't be playing much like Max anyway. You can throw that strategy out of the window.

Q. Five sets, surely that must help you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Some ways yes, some ways no. He's in great shape. I don't care what age he is. You know, he looks as fit as ever to me. He looks stronger than he's been probably in the past as well, and, you know, I can't recall too many matches that Andre's lost because of his fitness. So I throw his age right out the window. You know, I think he works as hard as, you know, anyone off the court and, you know, you got to put him probably in the top four or five guys I guess on tour, as the fittest guys around.

Q. When you guys both made your comebacks in San Jose, you played in the final. Coming into this, let's say you do play Andre, how much does that match give you confidence?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not a lot. It was probably, as you said, it was our first matches back. It's a bit different scenario now, if we play in the semis of the US Open rather than the final of San Jose - best-of-five, best-of-three set match, totally different situation.
You know, I beat him a couple of weeks ago in Cincinnati, but I reckon, we both can throw all those past results out the window.

Q. What's your schedule?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It's a weird situation. Couple of days off then you play back-to-back matches if you get through. So I probably just will hit once tomorrow and once Friday or whatever it is, probably for, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes most.

Q. Back to Younes for a minute, how come you're playing him, he runs around that backhand the way he does, but you have such precise shots. Why is it so hard to get the ball past him when he's on the baseline? He's out of position.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, sometimes, but his forehand is pretty big out there as well. When he gets around there and he can sort of whack it, it's not like you can just stand there and sort of bump it up the line. Most of the times he's attacking so you've got to actually, you know, you're running sort of to place the ball back. A lot of the times you're just happy to get it back over the net and deep to make him play another shot. Then you have to be very weary of if you push it down the line, don't quite get all of it clean, sitting there, ripe for his forehand just to whack away.

Q. Then you had to hit a drop volley.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, was a big point obviously for the break. I just had a bit of a hunch, I guess, was anticipation more than anything. He hit a lot of sort of drop volleys. I made him play low volleys. I started running probably before he hit it. It was pretty quick.

Q. On the TV John McEnroe said he thought you were probably -- looked like you were saving yourself for the big ones. Is that something you do consciously?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, you know, don't win all tough five setters and just scrape through. But I think I look forward to the bigger matches, no doubt about it. I know when to rise for the occasion, I guess. And, you know, it's not hard to get up for, you know, big matches. But I think I came out of the blocks well today and I sort of put it to him straight away that I'm defending champion here and it's gonna take a hell of a match from him to beat me out there today.
In the end -- second set was huge, for me to get out of that one. Then, you know, it's nice to get through not, you know, not in tight five-setters, I guess.

Q. Still got something in the tank?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I feel pretty good at the moment. We have to wait and see. Couple of days off shouldn't hurt.

Q. In that match today, especially in that second set when it was tight, there were a couple of line calls that were a bit iffy. You seemed to bite your tongue and didn't get into it. There were a couple balls that looked out. One in particular you looked at it again. But you didn't sort of get too emotional out there.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I can't actually remember. I don't know. But, yeah...

Q. As a whole, you didn't seem super emotional. You just sort of stayed steady. Is that something you're trying to do?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. I didn't even think about it. You know, couple line calls, I can't remember. You know, I know there were some, but I felt like there were some in the first set that was probably more critical. There was one particular point where I think I won it, had to win it three times to win the point. But apart from that, I can't remember that many obvious errors.

Q. Did you see him kick the net on that breakpoint?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I didn't see him, but I knew it was awfully close. Just at balls come over, the umpire said, "Touched," or something. I didn't know what was going on. Yeah, as soon as the umpire said it, then I realized.

Q. Do you sort of look at it in terms of, "Okay, I've won this many and this bloke won that many?"
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not at all. I don't even -- doesn't enter my mind. I'm not even going to go close to putting myself in the same category as Laver, Sampras, Agassi, whoever. I've won two Slams and, you know, at the age of 21, been No. 1, which is fantastic. It's past my wildest dreams, I guess, just to have done that. But I'm not, you know, putting anything in myself to go out there and win the most Slams or whatever. If it comes, it comes.

Q. Do you have more respect for a guy who's a prodigy and always marked as a great, great player and becomes a great player? Or a guy like Younes who was never thought to have a chance and goes on to become a Top 20 player?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not too much. I guess, it's totally different situation, I guess. Obviously, for the guy who gets nothing, I guess, and works so hard his whole career just to get into the Top 20, you got to take your hat off to that guy. But you got to take your hat off to a guy who's hailed as the next great thing and has so much pressure and expectation on their back. To come out and actually do it, that's another thing. You can't sort of weigh up the two things.
Obviously, the pressure's huge, I guess, for young guys coming up who, you know, get tagged as, "The next big thing," from their country or whatever. But if you're able to go and do that, then that's well done.

Q. What is the most dangerous part of Andre's game?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. He does everything pretty well. You know, I think just it's hard to say, to just pick one area out. But, you know, he obviously hits the ball extremely clean and extremely well from the back of the court. Dictating play from the back of the court, like he often does, with a lot of guys. It's tough to get too many cheap points off him.

Q. Is his serve underrated?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, very underrated. He's worked on his serve a lot over the last few years. He gets a lot of cheap points off of it. I think he uses his serve well for his game. A lot of guys, with different games, wouldn't be a great serve. He hits it in position where he's going to get that next short ball and pound his groundies, which he does so well.

Q. Can you imagine yourself playing a Grand Slam semifinal in ten years?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Don't know. It's a long way. Got no idea.

(Note: this is a partial transcript)

FastScripts by ASAP Sports...

 

Lleyton Hewitt Rd 4
09/02/2002

Transcribed Interview

Lleyton Hewitt

L. HEWITT defeated J. Novak

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Is three sets what you needed?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's good, especially it's 12:30 now. Obviously, you know, I was meant to be a night match anyway, just kept getting pushed down and down in the courts. So, you know, I was still planning on playing going on 8:30, I guess anyway. Wasn't a huge difference for our match rather than some of the other matches that had to hang around all day.

Q. Were you happy with the scheduling today? One stage we were told you were unlikely to play at all. You were put on the Grandstand court?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, well, I was in my hotel room the whole day basically, just basically preparing to play on Stadium tonight. Jason called me and said they're thinking about moving me to Armstrong. We didn't know what time. They were going to give me not before 8 or 9 o'clock.
Next thing, I hear a rumor going around they were probably going to call off my whole half, which seemed to me pretty sensible at the time. They're not pushed for that many days at the moment.
Then I found out that I'm going on Grandstand. So it was a bit of a shock. But I was prepared to play a night match anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

Q. Do these schedule changes, court changes bother you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No. It's tennis. You can't do much about it. You know, I would have liked to have played on Stadium, but it's no big deal to me. I knew -- I'd actually played Jiri two years ago in the third round here when I played the semis, I played him out in Grandstand. I wasn't that disappointed about going back out there.

Q. You can do something about it. They can put roofs on the courts.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, we could do that. Be like Australia. Be a good idea.

Q. They build a brand spanking-new stadium here three, four years ago. You would have thought sense would have prevailed.
LLEYTON HEWITT: That's why I think the Australian Open and the players and organizers, sponsors, I guess, and TV is perfect. It's so easy, especially now we've got two. It's a dream down there.
You know, I'm lucky enough that most of my matches are going to be on those two courts. I'm going to know I'm going to play at least when I'm scheduled to play. Sometimes it's a bit of a disadvantage if you go indoors and other guys in your half don't get to play, stuff like that.
At the end of the day, TV is a huge thing for tennis. No offense to all the old matches and stuff, when you got to watch it four or five times, it wears you out a bit (laughter).

Q. How would you rate your game today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It was pretty good. You know, I was -- first few games I felt like I wasn't quite hitting the ball well enough. I was feeling him out, I felt like. I was getting in good rhythm. I was able to step it up. I felt like I started playing pretty well.
In the third set he sort of raised his game a little bit. He was on a bit of a downer the whole second set pretty much. He was able to stand up. He's a very underrated player. His serve, when it's on, he's tough to break. He hasn't got a huge serve, but he hits the corners well and returns well. He's putting pressure on your service games every time. I felt like I served really well tonight, which was a huge thing against a guy like Novak.

Q. Not to keep bringing it up after each match you play, but it was a little bit more of an intimate setting today. A couple of heckles I heard from the crowd. Because it was a smaller venue, could you hear that? Do you tune it out?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I block out most things out there. I just don't know what I'm thinking, my mindset, sort of out there -- I don't, you know, when I get fired up, obviously I like to feel the emotion of the crowd. Very rarely do I hear much of what anyone says - even if my parents or my coach or whoever, comments in the corner, people are saying "Come on" and stuff. I sort of hear it vaguely, but I can't really -- I'm in that much of a zone out there that it doesn't affect me too much.

Q. No different mindset than when you're playing a match that everyone wants to see and talk about and write about to going into one in the next round that is almost not --
LLEYTON HEWITT: Don't even care about it.

Q. Almost. Strange situation?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, it's different I guess because, you know, normally, you know, I guess the further you go in the tournament it's gonna get more and more hype. Obviously the third round against James was a pretty hyped up match, I guess, beforehand. And, you know, it was probably, you know, obviously playing on Grandstand and tonight at 12 o'clock was not the best atmosphere out there with a full house.
So it's different, but, you know, you still know. That's when the great players, I think, pick up their level and try and block it out and just get the job done and get off and into the locker room and worry about the next round.

Q. Did you sense that after every first serve that had gotten in, he won the point up until you broke him in the first set? Did you get the sense that maybe after you won the first set he's thinking to himself, "It's going to be very hard for me to beat this guy three out of four when I've taken one set from him in three matches"?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I felt pretty good going into the match. I played him three times before that, once I think when I was maybe 17 years old, 16 or 17. Then the next time I played him it was US Open, and this year I played him in Hamburg and played pretty well, I thought. Pretty convincingly beat him there on clay. So I was feeling reasonably confident going in. I felt like my game matched up pretty well to his as well.
I felt like I could chase down enough of his balls to sort of make him go for sort of the wrong shot here and there.

Q. He had a lot of unforced errors.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he's that kind of player, though. I don't -- as I said, I don't think he matches up great against me.

Q. 19 aces. Can you recall the last time you have done that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'm not sure. But, you know, I think I served pretty well here last year, especially in, you know, the latter stages, the quarters, semis, and final. I don't know number-wise, but it was definitely up there. I felt like I had, for most of the match, pretty good rhythm.

Q. How do you think the day off now will advantage you when the other half's out playing tomorrow?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's probably going to be a small advantage, I guess. But then again there's only one guy from my half's gonna get through to use that maybe to your advantage.
So, you know, at the moment I'm just worried about Ferreira or El Aynaoui. I'm not concentrating on the other half at all.

Q. Ferreira's been a bit of a dark horse here but he's been playing very well.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I've practiced with him a bit the last few weeks. He's a bloody tough player. He's good at everything. Surprising that the last couple years he has sort of one good result here and there, winning Stuttgart. He beat me two years ago in the final there. Apart from that, he's had a lot of average losses for him I guess. It's no real surprise, I don't think to the players, to see him come out and have an opportunity of making the quarters.

Q. How would your game be different against Younes? He just lost the second set. Well, let's move over. Have you played him very much?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I've played him three times. I think I lead 2-1. Beat him on grass and clay and lost to him on hard court.

Q. How does he match up?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He's a tough player, very flashy, huge forehand. Little bit like Novak. He has a big first serve but he hits the corners very well. You wouldn't say he has a Roddick or Sampras kind of serve but it's tough to return. You know, both got big forehands, that's their strengths. Obviously got to open up their backhand as much as possible with both guys.

Q. Watching any of Andre?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I haven't seen any of him. He hasn't spent too long on the court for me to watch it.

Q. He hasn't dropped a set. Is that sort of surprising this deep into a Grand Slam?
LLEYTON HEWITT: In some ways, but I guess Andre's done that a lot of times though. He's probably the best guy at rolling over guys very quickly, I guess. Once he gets his nose in front, he's extremely tough to get back in the match with.
You know, I probably would have thought that Gambill would have given him more of a match though. Apart from that, his first three matches, I couldn't see those guys doing too much against him. But Gambill, even though his record wasn't great against him, I thought Jan-Michael was going pretty good.

Q. I know you take one match at a time. You know you got to meet him in the semis.
LLEYTON HEWITT: We'll see when I get there. If we both get there, then it will be a good match.

Q. The third set today you were serving for the set, that was the only time you lost your serve. Do you have any thoughts on that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. I probably played a little bit negative for the first couple points. Then, you know, the last couple of points he just slapped winners off my serve. The last one I hit a pretty good first serve out wide. He picked it up, slapped it up the line. Wasn't a lot I could do about it.
He sort of went out with the "all or nothing attitude," I guess, in that last game. You know, it was good, though, that I was able to try and block it out and still break the next game and hold easily.

(Note: this is a partial transcript)
Lleyton Hewitt


L. HEWITT/J. Blake RD 3
MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.

Q. It seems that at a Grand Slam you always have one of these turnaround matches where it goes, you're able to kick on. How do you feel about your prospects now, the way you're playing after this match?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I feel good. You know, hopefully the body is going to pull up pretty well in a couple of days' time. You know, I knew it was going to be an extremely tough match before I went out there. I was prepared to lay it all on the line. You know, in the end it's only a few points here and there in a five-set match like that. You've got to take your chances. In the end, I was able to.
I feel like I've stepped my game up, you know, since the first couple of rounds, as well. You know, for me, it's all positive.

Q. Cold is getting better?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. It's not a huge factor.

Q. What did James say to you after the match?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He just said, "Congratulations. Sorry about some of the crowd," something.

Q. Did you hear what someone in the crowd said?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I didn't hear a lot of it. No, I didn't hear much. I was pretty focused out there today.

Q. You seemed very in control of your emotions all the way through, no shouts, screams. Did you feel that was an important element in the way you needed to play today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I went out there with the same attitude that I've taken into Davis Cup matches. I really felt that in my head I just got it in that I was playing for Australia out there. That was my whole mindset, you know, as soon as I walked on the court. When I felt like getting fired up, looking over to my bench, I tried to use all my positive energy when I needed to in that way. Apart from that, I just tried blocking everything else out.
I worked a lot on going into that SpanishDavis Cup final a couple of years ago with Newk and Rochey. Newk and I sat down and had gone through a lot of things back then. I sort of drew strength from that, I guess, especially probably the match I played against Costa, winning in five, and also how I handled the situation down in Brazil against Guga.

Q. Talk about the fifth set. You had some shaky points there. Looks like you lost your rhythm.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I played well in the fifth. I got off to a good start. I knew I had to. I didn't want to go behind early and then, you know, him have the total momentum after swinging the fourth set around, getting on top early in the fifth. I was able to do that quite well. I was able to hold my serve quite well pretty easy in the first few games. I tried to step it up. He didn't give me too many chances to step it up too much on his service games. I felt like if I could have got a bit of a start in one of his service games, the opportunity was there, that's when I was going to try to nail it down and take it. Obviously that came when I got to Love-15, Love-30, then Love-40 eventually in that game. I was able to step it up, sort of raise the bar a little bit.
From there on, it's still tough to serve it out, though.

Q. What would you say would be the two or three points in the match which turned it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, obviously when there's only one break in the fifth set, I guess that game obviously means a lot. You know, won it to Love. There wasn't one point. Getting off to a good start one of those first two points, I was able to get Love-15, Love-30, trying to take my chances from there.
Apart from that, I can't remember that long ago. Obviously, the first set I lost, I felt like I was in control of the first set early, then I felt like he was probably having the better session towards the end of the first set. He had a few set points there, at least one. In the breaker, I felt like I was the better player early. Hit a double-fault at 5-All. That sort of changed things. He got the first set. The momentum was with him.
To my credit, I was able to hang in there and try and get up an early break in the second.

Q. James said one of the things he was really proud of in the match was that any kid watching the game could watch it and enjoy it and say, "I want to be like either of those two players." Is that something that is in your mind, as well?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, when I'm out there playing, I'm concentrating on other things, I guess. But, you know, obviously for sure, I think it's great for the game to have, you know, tough matches, especially two young guys I guess going out there and giving everything they've got out there. I don't know how long the match was, probably three and a half, around that area. It's tough conditions out there. You know, to see us not give an inch the whole match for three and a half hours to four hours, I think it's something we can both be proud of.

Q. I don't think anyone wants to go on and on about this whole race thing. In the fourth set when the woman called out, a bunch of us were even further away than you were, it was really crystal clear what she said. You stopped before serving in your motion.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I didn't hear what she said. I stopped because James turned around. I was ready to serve. I've got no idea. I didn't hear a lot of what the crowd said all day.

Q. Would it disturb you to hear that she said, "Don't let him beat you, James, he's a racist"?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You're always going to get some nutters in the crowd. Can't do much about it.

Q. How do you like music during the changeovers?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Music? It's different. I'm not going to get up and dance, but it's all right (smiling). It is different. It's weird. I make myself not look at the score boards. I've got no idea what they're showing up there, whether it's - I don't know - video clips or what the hell it is.
I hear the music. Yeah, it's good for the game I think because it gets the crowd, you know, involved in change of ends, whereas a lot of sports don't have like a little bit of a time-out, I guess. In that way, I think it's good for the game.

Q. You weren't watching when they replayed the ball that was called out?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I didn't look at the screen once for my three matches or two matches that I played, and I didn't look at it last year.

Q. It's not distracting to have the action replay?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not for me. For other players, maybe. I think somebody, maybe Agassi, got it turned off last year, the screen, at one stage during his match. For me, it hasn't been a problem. I don't even -- the whole time when I'm sitting down or playing my game, I don't look up there. I look to a couple of score boards now and then, that sort of situation, on the side of the court.

Q. Would you say that's the least emotional you've been in a big match?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not really, no. I think last year I wasn't that emotional probably in some of my matches, you know, towards the end of the tournament. I felt like I got fired up today when I needed to. I felt like I got fired up in some of those matches. Even away Davis Cup matches, as well. I don't know why.

Q. Early in your career, insiders have noted that you have kind of an affection for Patrick, especially in your early years.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Patrick Rafter?

Q. Yes. In recent years, you usually are a pretty tough customer on court. You were saying "nice shot" a couple times, applauding. Do you have a little bit of respect or even affection for James, even though he's a tough opponent?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He's a nice guy, no doubt about that. I think everyone knows that. Yeah, I say a lot of "good shots" to a lot of opponents. It's not just because I'm playing James out there. Maybe he hits more good shots than some other guys I play, I don't know.
Yeah, he's a nice guy. We get along fine off court.

(Note: this is a partial transcript)
Lleyton Hewitt Rd 2 

L. HEWITT/N. Okun 7-6 6-4 6-1
MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.

Q. Very satisfactory.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's always tough when you don't know the guy you're going to play. You know, the first set was pretty much feeling him out. He was, you know, a pretty good player. Slapped a few balls around, didn't have too many weaknesses. He just got a little bit tight, I think, when he had a few opportunities to close out the first set. That's where I was able to get out of the first set and sort of take my game to another level from there on.

Q. How is your overall confidence at the moment? Sky high? Getting there?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Getting there, I think. I still feel like there's a lot of room for improvement. It's a great thing, I'll tell you, to be into the third round, not having wasted too much energy so far. You know, I'm still here battling along. It's a good feeling.

Q. Do you feel any pressure? People are expecting you to win. You are a defending champion.
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, there's definitely a little bit more pressure. I don't really feel like it affects me too much. I feel like I'm able to block it out pretty well. You know, I've had to deal with it, I guess, from a certain extent as I've been going up. I've done everything at a young age, I guess, had expectations sort of put on me. I've been able to sort of jump every hurdle.
Now I don't really know where to go now. I've just got to sort of try to stay there. Obviously, everyone's after you. I feel like I can go out there, though, and put myself on the line every time, which is a good thing.

Q. You said prior to Wimbledon that you then knew because of last year here what it took to win a Grand Slam. Presumably now, after winning Wimbledon, that's reinforcing those beliefs.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know if it can work twice (smiling).
You know, obviously I guess after the first one, that's the key. You really start believing that you're capable of winning seven best-of-five set matches over two weeks. And, two, you overcome that hurdle.
I still think, you know, in guys that haven't won it, there's still a little bit of doubt in their mind, in the back of their head somewhere, "Maybe I'm not capable of putting seven tough matches back to back together there."
You know, sure, now I've won two, fantastic. But I'm no more confident, I guess. I still believe that I can go out there and I know what it takes. But I think that more so happened after the first one here last year.

Q. For your opponents, do you think that makes a difference at all?
LLEYTON HEWITT: At a Slam?

Q. When you get into the fact that you know how to win The Open, to go through seven matches to do it.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I guess maybe more towards the end of a Grand Slam, I guess it may help you if you've been there. Guys have to win their first at some stage. Obviously Marat and I were able to do it here back-to-back years. I'm sure Pete sort of felt he had a little bit of the wood over us because he had that experience of Grand Slams. Sooner or later, guys like myself or Marat are going to break through and win our first.
You know, there's always a time I guess that people are going to, you know, win their first one. You know, I think sometimes you get into the closer matches towards the end of Slams. Some people who haven't been to finals or held up that trophy start to get the yips a little bit, start doubting themselves.

Q. Next round is you and JamesBlake. We get a match that everybody is waiting to see. Both better players than you were a year ago. You have a couple of Slams now. He's a much better player than he was a year ago. How does a stadium full of 22,000 people affect the two players on the floor?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, I don't think it will affect us both in a huge way because, obviously, I've played a lot of matches in that situation, and he's starting to play more and more.
Obviously, Davis Cup ties that he's played, you know, winning his title in Washington, I don't think it's going to -- I don't think nerves are going to play much of a part in it. It's going to be a tough match, there's no doubt about it.

Q. This is New York, where people are going to be screaming, vocal.
LLEYTON HEWITT: For me, you know, I had all that I guess last year here. I know how to handle it. I played a young American, Roddick, in the quarters here last year. I had to play Pete, the older guy, who obviously everyone wanted to see him back winning another Slam, in the final. I've had to deal with it in matches. I feel pretty comfortable that I can block out all the outside distractions, get on with the job. Quite often I rise to big matches.

Q. What are your thoughts, in the match against Blake last year, an episode with the lines judge was much talked about here. A year later, what thoughts do you have about that incident? Do you think about it now? Do you think about it differently? Do you wish you handled it differently?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't think about it at all.

Q. Not at all?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not at all. James and I are fine about it. You know, we spoke straight after the situation. That was pretty much the end of it. I've played James twice since then. We're not the best of mates I guess off the court just because we're from different countries. I think we're as close as you can be.
I guess I've been in a lot of tournaments the same. We played straight after the US Open in Tokyo last year and also Miami this year.

Q. Where you're coming from, it's a dead issue?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. I'm pretty sure where James is coming from, as well.

Q. You still sound nasally. Is the cold still there?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not much has changed. Two days ago. I think I sound worse than I feel, let's put it that way.

Q. Are you seeing somebody about it, taking anything?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No. There's not a lot I can take. Just try to guts it out.

Q. Is there the danger it could spiral into worse as opposed to better?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I guess there's probably maybe a chance of that. I don't know.
You know, I took a little bit of medication last week. As soon as the tournament starts, I'm off everything. I'm just concentrating, trying to drink plenty of fluid, this stuff here, keep myself hydrated as much as possible.
You know, there's always a chance I guess that you could get a second re-infection or stuff like that. You can't sort of worry about that too much.
To me, I feel like I'm over the worst part.

Q. Do you relish a match like Saturday's, JamesBlake, as opposed to today's?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I think over the years, I've definitely played better in the bigger matches. I've definitely played my best tennis in tough pressure situations with a lot of crowd, big crowd. You've just got to look at my Davis Cup matches I guess to sort of see. Brazil and Barcelona, doesn't get much -- more hostile crowds than those two places. I was able to handle the situation pretty well, I felt. I played some of my best tennis I've ever played.

Q. You look forward to it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You never look forward I guess to your opponent getting all the support and you getting nothing. But it doesn't worry me.
I'm able to block it out. As I said, it was sort of the same case last year when everyone wanted to see a Roddick-Sampras final. I pretty much screwed that up for them.

Q. You look at the elements of James' game, forehand, athletic, but not up at the net. Is that the sort of player that's likely to give you more problems than a guy like the Israeli today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't think there's one style of play that I prefer to play more or find easier to play. A lot depends on how guys play on the day, I think. I've lost to, you know, some of the best serve and volley players around, I've lost to some of the best baseline players, I've lost to guys who mix it up like James does. Then again, I've beaten a lot of different kind of players as well.
I think a lot depends just on the day, how the situation is, how both players are feeling in the match. I don't think you can sort of write up too much what type of player I prefer to play or not.

Q. You will have heard by now that Mark Philippoussis won't be available for the Davis Cup. Do you have any thoughts on that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It's obviously bad news, not only just for the Davis Cup tie, but for his career, I guess. Coming back from three knee surgeries I think it's been. If you can draw a positive out of anything, I don't think he has to have an operation, which is a good thing. At least I'm guessing he's going to have to start again at the start of next year in the Australian circuit.
The poor guy has had so many injuries, you can't feel -- you feel so sorry for him. If he got a bit of a break, I'm sure I think everyone knows what he's capable of doing.

Q. Do you think we'll be all right without him?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Davis Cup?

Q. Yes.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I hope so. You're never a certainty. I feel pretty confident within myself. I feel confident that Wayne, Scotty and Todd, we can all do the right thing, get us back in the World Group.

Q. Today against Noam in the first set, you seemed to be a bit more tentative than you usually are. Was that more him or more you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I think it's more feeling a guy out, you know, when you haven't played against him a lot. I'd never seen him play before, never seen him hit a ball. You try and feel him out. I didn't know how hard he hits the ball. I didn't know whether he was going to serve-volley or stay back. I was just trying to get a sense of how he's going to play for most of the match.
If I lost the first set, at least I would have been better prepared to try him in the next three.

Q. What do you think about Mark Miles saying the fine they gave you was outrageous, they're going to reduce it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'm not going to get into it anymore. I'm here to play a Grand Slam. Mark's obviously made his comments. My management company have a statement on my behalf, as well. If you want to get that, you can find it somewhere.

Q. What's the assessment of your first serve today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Pretty ordinary.

Q. Why?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. Hopefully they're going to go in two days' time.

Q. Do you wish you would have been able to talk to Mark before the tournament started, because obviously outside distractions aren't a good thing?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Mark Miles?

Q. Yes.
LLEYTON HEWITT: He had plenty of opportunities at different times to talk to me. Nothing really happened. You know, I'm just sort of leaving it at that for now.

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Lleyton Hewitt


L. HEWITTdef N. Coutelot Rd 1  6-2 6-3 6-3

THE MODERATOR: First question for Lleyton, please.

Q. Is it a different feeling coming out there as defending champion this year?
LLEYTON HEWITT: In some ways, I guess. I think you can -- it's always nice, I've always found, to come back to a place that you've played well in the past, whether it's a small tournament or a big tournament. Obviously, as I said before, the tournament, this place changed my life for so many reasons, this time last year. This is where I got my big breakthrough. It's an extra special feeling to come back here.
Yeah, I think as soon as I walked on the court and sucked in a bit of the atmosphere, a few of the memories came back of the final against Pete last year. I think, for me, that's a plus, you know. A lot of people may get, you know, a little bit negative, I guess, about it or feel the pressure, but, you know, I enjoy coming back here and, you know, defending my title and see how I go this year.

Q. Does it make you any more or less hungry?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I don't know. You're always hungry for the Slams, I guess. I've won a couple of them now. You know, it's a nice feeling to get more now, I guess.

Q. How's that cold? Are you able to take any medication for it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No. You know, obviously you can tell I'm not quite 100 percent. But, you know, I've had it since I lost in Indianapolis, so I started feeling it coming here. Actually hung around for a long time.
Probably got worse half way through last week and, you know, I look back and it's nice it happened last week rather than this week. At least if I feel like I can get through the first few matches, I'm only going to get better.

Q. From time to time, you have conversations with Patrick Rafter. He's the last person to win this tournament twice in a row. I wonder whether he imparted whether or not there's any particular thing that's important to know when you're trying to repeat as champion here?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I haven't brought it up with Pat. You know, I think he's too worried about trying to be a father at the moment. I haven't even brought up, you know, trying to defend the title and be the next -- try and be the next person to try and do exactly what Pat did.
My mind, it's an extremely tough task, I guess, to come back to a place, you know, and have the pressure on you again and try and come through seven tough matches. But, then again, I think it sort of suits the way I play in the big matches as well. You know, I think I play the big matches as well as anyone these days.

Q. Was it hard to get into a rhythm against him?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah.

Q. He seems to be...
LLEYTON HEWITT: I've never seen him play. I only heard a little bit from a few of the other guys in the locker room. Yeah, you know, certainly surprised me a couple of times. Obviously, the first game said it all, he was 30-love up. Next thing, he sprayed four back fences basically and gave me the break.
But he's a good player. He's a typical French player, I guess, extremely talented, got every shot in the book and very flashy. And if they're on, they're very tough to beat.
That was pretty much -- I knew that sort of going into it. It's tough playing a guy you've actually never seen hit a ball before as well.

Q. How did you handle the long wait?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It was -- obviously, I was sitting in the locker room watching everyone cramp, I guess.
I didn't do a hell of a lot. It's obviously -- it's tough for players not knowing when they're going to go on. At least I pretty much knew Venus was going to go pretty quickly (smiling).
But then again, I got told that I may be moving courts, as well, for the night session. So, you know, I'm all of a sudden looking around at what's happening on Armstrong, Grandstand, in case they did move me and I had to prepare a bit quicker. It's tough, but that's tennis. Unless you're first match on, you never have a deadline when you're actually going to be out there. That's the ups and downs of tennis.

Q. When you're looking around at the other matches, did you see what happened to Mark?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I saw a little bit. I was having lunch at the time. I only saw the replay. I didn't see it actually happen. But it was a strange fall. I think, you know, looked very similar, I guess, to what happened in Wimbledon a few years ago.
I got no idea how bad it is. You know, I saw him icing his knee afterwards, then he left pretty much after that. I guess he's going to see, you know, if there's, you know, some serious damage done or not. Until then, I don't think anyone's got an idea how bad it is. I'm sure he probably, obviously, feared the worst, but then again it wasn't probably quite as bad as what happened Wimbledon three or four years ago because he kept playing a few more games. Could pull up, you know, I guess.

Q. As the No. 1 player in the world, do you get a tremendous amount of attention? Some say that you have some responsibilities. My question really relates to us as the media. What's your view, your philosophy on the media? Do you see us as a pain in the neck, as adversaries, as responsible, in part, for your fame? What's your approach?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I see it, you know, as a way to connect with the fans I think, is probably the biggest. Obviously, I guess responsible for, you know, if you're in the papers, then a lot of the publicity is going to be out there and you're going to be thrown in the spotlight a lot more than if you're not noticed I guess and not written about. In that way, obviously, I've been thrown in the spotlight, I guess, at a very young age. I've had to deal with, you know, being in the spotlight since 15 or 16 really.
But it's part of being a professional athlete. Yeah, I think, you know, the biggest thing is trying to connect to the fans I guess because the fans don't see that much of you off the court as, you know, they only basically see you play your matches and that. The media's probably the biggest way for people to find out about the person.

Q. Do you think you were treated unfairly with the whole brouhaha and fine relating to the ESPN interview? Do you think that was an unfair treatment of you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I think a lot of people lied. I think that's a known fact. I've got no doubt that I'm going to win, there won't be a fine at all. I spoke to a few journalists from Australia. Everyone thinks I don't talk to them, but I do. For me, that was a way to get my side of the story. It was all one-sided coming out. It was just absolute lies coming out. So that was probably the most disappointing thing about it.
You know, I really didn't want to come out and make a big deal of it. It sort of blew off. I felt like I was, you know, coping the brunt of it. I felt the ATP was sort of just riding the wave and, you know, as I said before, there were so many guys just making stories up in there, just to throw it in, I guess to save their job.

Q. Who was lying?
LLEYTON HEWITT: The ATP people were lying. A lot of times there was -- always ATP spokesperson, no one ever wanted to put their name to it.

Q. They have a way of changing the stadium court every year, different speed.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah?

Q. Anything different this year? Faster? Slower? About the same? If it has changed, does it suit your game better than it did last year?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I think it's probably, you know, a tad slower, I guess. I was listening to the commentary last night, I don't know if this is true, they said they put three layers instead of four or something on the court, I heard someone say. I think McEnroe said it. If that's the case, I don't know why they do it. You know, I don't know if it benefits me or makes that big a difference. It's probably going to quicken up, the more play it has on it over the two weeks.
I don't find it to be that big a difference, you know. I've spoken to a few guys. They've actually said some of the outside courts are playing pretty quick. I think the thing that tournaments have to do is put all the courts the same pace. You know, I think that's the biggest thing. I'm not that concerned about how the pace of the courts are playing, whether it's Australian Open or US Open, obviously the clay and grass is pretty much the same, I guess. But hardcourts, as long as there are 24 courts or whatever, are the same pace, I've got no problem.

Q. Don't the Slams try to accommodate their own players though? You go to Paris, maybe the speed of the clay courts there are conducive to their players?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. I haven't put any requests in for the Australian Open yet. Would be a good idea. Haven't thought about it.
I'm -- I don't know. Maybe Pete and Andre have spoken, Roddick, I don't know, here. To me, it's not a huge difference on last year. I don't think it favors one particular style of play too much.

Q. What CDs are you listening to these days to get yourself psyched for the matches?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Believe it or not, I still listen to Jimmy Barns (phonetic), went and saw his Raw tour end of last year, he gave me tickets. I got to meet him and, you know, that's probably my number one. Saw him live as well.

Q. Some newspaper writers have suggested that you're the only serious contender for this title. Do you think that's right?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, that's rubbish.

Q. Who do you think your main challenge is?
LLEYTON HEWITT: There's a lot of challengers. Most people know who they are. Obviously, Agassi, Safin are probably the two biggest. Roddick's up there, for sure. He plays -- obviously, I think we all saw how well he played here last year. Haas, Henman, Rusedski, Ferrero. There's a lot of guys. I think it's getting more and more open, considering so many of the good, typical clay court players are able to do well and win -- Moya was another one. I'm forgetting guys; I know I am.
But there's a lot of typical clay court players who are doing better and better on hardcourts these days and getting more confident. They see a guy like Carlos come out and win Cincinnati, and they spear each other on and say we can beat the big hitters and big servers. I think it's an extremely tough field this year.

Q. There were a lot of injuries today.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know.

Q. There's been seven today, which is a record.
LLEYTON HEWITT: What was it?

Q. Seven have gone out in the first round, a record.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Injuries?

Q. Yeah.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I got no idea. Obviously, you know, I've said in the past with the tournaments, I think there's too many. But whether that's why seven people went out today, I got no -- well, first round, I got no idea.

Q. Just to finish up on the previous questions, I mean, to say that the ATP was lying, obviously, is a strong comment. Could you tell me what their lies were?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It was basically about the timing of the whole situation, when they notified me, the whole little details they put into it, which tries to make their story a lot stronger. Where, in the end, it's basically just crap.

(Note: this is a partial transcript)