[溫網]Hewitt Carries Australia's Hopes
Hewitt Carries Australia's Hopes
cGetty/ P.Cole Monday, 20 June, 2005
The Australians keep a close eye on Lleyton Hewitt, the nation's only player
remotely in with a chance of winning the Wimbledon title it once almost owned.
John Newcombe, three times singles Champion, poked his head around the door
when Hewitt was giving his press conference after winning his opening match
on No. 1 Court. Tony Roche, Newcombe's old doubles partner when they
dominated Wimbledon, is at The Championships coaching Roger Federer but he
would have known all about Hewitt as well.
Hewitt cannot avoid being Australia's lone hope. He won the title three years
ago so he knows the business of winning on grass. In Australia they hope he
knows the business just as well this time.
"On Australia's part, we don't have enough players," said Hewitt as he
assessed his country's part in the tennis world. "What have we got? We've got
four guys in the main draw, the men's. One is a wild card, one is a protected
ranking who is going to retire soon, then we've got Wayne (Arthurs) and
myself. It is really not good enough for our country.
"We have got to try to find a way of producing young kids to come up. This
tournament is a huge tradition back in Australia. There is a tradition of
talking about Wimbledon - even people that don't understand tennis know what
Wimbledon is about. That is why it has held such a rich tradition in
Australia. We have had so many great champions here."
Hewitt started The Championships against Christophe Rochus of Belgium,
winning in straight sets. Afterwards he said: "All grass is different, but
today it was pretty slow, very slow. It felt very soft out there. I've got no
doubt though it's going to quicken up over the next two weeks the more play
it gets on it. I think because the show courts didn't have any play they were
very green out there today. But with both of us playing from the back of the
court, we were leaving imprints in the court. It was that soft."
Hewitt's year included two injury periods, the second of which put him out of
the French Open when he fell downstairs at his house in Sydney and cracked
two ribs. And now? "It's pretty good at the moment," the Australian said. "I
felt a couple of little twinges when I was practising. That was about it.
Since then I haven't felt a thing. It's been great. I've been able to get to
the gym and do pretty much as I normally would, which is good."
Hewitt assessed his serve compared with when he won the Wimbledon title.
"Week in, week out, I think it's better now," he said. "I've got more
variety. Those two weeks I served really well when I needed to, when I went
on to win the tournament here. I'm a good enough returner that I am going to
get opportunities to break if I can clean up my service games."
Written by Barry Newcombe
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