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Lleyton Hewitt is back to his best and he’s gunning
for glory
By Alix Ramsay
 It
is strange how you never miss people until they are gone.
When the new crop of Grand Slam champions emerged four years
ago, Lleyton Hewitt was the first to establish himself at
the top. For two years he set up camp at the sharp end of
the rankings and with two consecutive Masters Cup victories
in 2001 and 2002, he ended both seasons as No. 1.
Hewitt was not as talented as Roger Federer—then again,
who is?—he was not as powerful as Andy Roddick and he
was not as charismatic as Marat Safin. But he was good. And
then we all forgot about him.
As 2003 began, Hewitt set his goals for the year. The list
was short—it began and ended with the Davis Cup—but
it was all that mattered to Hewitt. A proud Australian and
a patriot through and through, he was willing to sacrifice
his position in the new world order to bring the trophy back
home.
At the same time Federer was preparing to make his move toward
greatness, beginning with his first Wimbledon and Masters
Cup titles, and Roddick was heading off on his marvelous summer
that brought him two Masters Series titles, the US Open and,
ultimately, the No. 1 ranking. That year, too, Juan Carlos
Ferrero (remember him?) won the French Open and was crowned
as the new king of the clay courts. Comparing Hewitt's game
to those of the three new champions, Australia's favorite
firebrand seemed lightweight.
It comes to something when to win the Davis Cup for your country—and
to do it on home soil, to boot—is regarded as a failure.
But apart from that particular piece of silverware, Hewitt
collected just two titles in 2003 and his ranking had fallen
to No. 17 by the Christmas break. That was the end of Hewitt,
then, the sages cried. He would not trouble the big boys at
the big events any more.
That was when we started to miss Hewitt. His tenacious, never-say-die,
blood-and-thunder battles were sadly lacking in the mix at
the top. Roddick was blasting people off court with that serve
(with the exception of Federer, of course) and we missed Hewitt’s
dogged insistence that the big man play another ball and think
the point through. Federer was simply too good for everyone
and we wanted some to become a thorn in his side, to make
him work for his wins. Or, at least, we needed someone to
try. And we rued the fact that there was no one to stir up
the ATP with forthright opinions and criticisms. Hewitt, meanwhile,
was languishing outside the Top 10 and was a forgotten man.
 But
you write off Hewitt at your peril. While the focus of attention
was elsewhere, the wee man was on his way back. Starting off
the year with the title in Sydney, it took the eventual champions
to beat him at the Grand Slam events (Federer in the fourth
round in Melbourne and the quarterfinals in Wimbledon, and
Gaston Gaudio in the quarter finals in Roland Garros) before
he dug in for battle at the US Open.
Coming through the summer hard-court season as the man to
beat, he was still not given due credit. He got to the final
in Cincinnati and went on to mop up the Washington and Long
Island trophies. Ah, yes, the pundits said, but everyone of
note is in Athens for the Olympics. It will be different when
they return. And then they came back from Greece. And then
Hewitt reached the final in Flushing Meadows. So much for
pundits.
It was the same at the Masters Cup. When it came to the crunch,
it was Hewitt chasing Federer for the top honors, not Roddick
or Safin. The fact that the Swiss had beaten him with apparent
ease throughout the year was no disgrace—Federer had
walloped everyone for more than a season. But despite losing
to Federer in Houston—and losing to the race for the
No. 2 spot to Roddick—Hewitt had announced his return.
“I think I’ve had probably as consistent a year
as I’ve ever had,” Hewitt said. “I lost
to the winners of all four Grand Slams and making the US Open
final again and putting yourself in a position to try and
take out a Grand Slam title, that was obviously a huge bonus
this year.
“I heard Cliff Drysdale talking, and he sounded like
there was only two players playing the game. I know there’s
been one stand-out for the last year and a half but if you
look at the points, I think there’s a couple of us right
up Andy’s butt at the moment.”
And as he headed home to Adelaide, Hewitt was making plans
for the Australian Open. Federer may be streets ahead of everyone
at the moment but Roddick and the rest had better watch their
butt, their back and every other part of their anatomy—Lleyton
is back and he means business. |
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