Cards fall Hewitt's way in New York

Updated August 27, 2012 15:09:20

For once, the cards have fallen in Lleyton Hewitt's favour and now he is looking to cash in at the final tennis grand slam of the year.

Hewitt has welcomed his inviting US Open draw with cautious optimism after spending five injury-ravaged years cursing his wretched luck at the majors.

Crippling injuries have not only robbed the former world No.1 of priceless court time but also his seeding protection and, more often than not, Hewitt has been pitch-forked into an early-round confrontation with a Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

Not this time, with none of the big three, nor four-times grand slam runner-up and Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray, in sight.

The injured Nadal is sidelined and Hewitt can't possibly run into Djokovic, his most accomplished rival in the top half of the draw, before the semi-finals.

Australia's 2001 champion opens against Germany's world No.90 Tobias Kamke, with 28th seed Mikhail Youzhny his likely second-round opponent.

Hewitt beat Youzhny in straight sets last week in Cincinnati to extend his winning record over the Russian to 5-1.

The veteran wildcard admitted it was nice to receive a bit of luck in the draw, but was too experienced to start plotting a way past Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer in the third round.

"You've still got to go out there and do it, so I'm not looking too far ahead than my first round," he said.

"I don't know a lot about the guy (Kamke), so I'll go out there and just play my game and hopefully work it out during the first set and see how we go."

Hewitt's latest victory over Youzhny was his first hardcourt encounter since making an inspired run to the last 16 of the Australian Open in January, after which the dual grand slam champion underwent surgery to have his big left toe fused.

The operation sidelined Hewitt for almost four months, but the world No.125 has since reached a final on grass at Newport, beaten world No.13 Marin Cilic at the London Olympics and gone within two games of toppling Djokovic.

"Playing doubles at Wimbledon, I started feeling like my movement was a lot better and then I went to Newport and that gave me a lot of confidence that week," Hewitt said.

"Then the Olympics, I played and moved as well as I have in a long time, so that gave me confidence.

"When I'm fully fit, I feel I can go out there and compete against most of those guys.

"I felt great against Djokovic at the Olympics and I performed like that.

"But then stepping onto the hard courts it's a bit different. It takes a bit of time."

Viktor Troicki soundly beat Hewitt in the second round in Cincinnati, but the South Australian wasn't fazed.

"The first matches on hard court since the Australian Open was always going to be tough," he said.

"It was going to be tough to bounce back after the first match, so it's been good to get a lot of tough practice this week."

Like Hewitt, Bernard Tomic opens his campaign on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the schedule.

Unlike the other three grand slams, the first round in New York is played over three days, and the 43-ranked Tomic faces world No.44 Carlos Berlocq of Argentina in his opener.

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, united-states

First posted August 27, 2012 14:16:06

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Tennis Coaching DVD - from Lleyton Hewitt's Coach Peter Smith - 'The Development Stage' by Virtual Tennis Coach

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Lleyton Hewitt Former World No.1, US Open and Wimbledon Champion

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Darren Cahill Coach to Andre Agassi

Roger Rasheed Coach to Gail Monfils

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Roche backs Hewitt's French comeback

Posted May 9, 2011 16:23:00

Master coach Tony Roche has hailed Lleyton Hewitt the toughest competitor he has ever encountered as Australia's tennis warrior targets a shock comeback at this month's French Open.

Roche and Hewitt will fly to Europe on Thursday, with the former world number one boldly planning to contest the claycourt grand slam beginning on Sunday week despite having not played for more than two months.

The 30-year-old underwent foot surgery in March but Hewitt is once again prepared to play through the pain barrier.

"I think he's used to that. Look, he'd be the toughest competitor that I've seen," Roche said on Monday.

"He's had a lot of setbacks the last couple of years but he keeps bouncing back.

"He keeps wanting to improve and he's so keen, which is great for Australian tennis because we need him to hang in there."

Roche's opinion comes highly qualified - the 1963 French Open champion has guided all-time greats Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Pat Rafter to more than a dozen grand slam titles.

And indeed Hewitt's powers of recovery are nothing short of amazing.

Time and again, the two-time major winner has gone under the knife only to return and contend almost immediately at the slams.

Last year, Hewitt was sidelined for almost four months following a second round of hip surgery and a knee operation before upstaging the mighty Federer on grass in the Halle final and then almost beating Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.

He reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 US Open despite carrying a knee injury that threatened his very participation.

His finest effort playing under duress in Paris came in 2008 when he lobbed at Roland Garros without having contested a single match on the surface and pushed fifth-seeded claycourt specialist David Ferrer to five sets in the third round.

Despite all the setbacks, Hewitt is the only active player - Federer and the king of clay Rafael Nadal included - to have made the last 32 on 10 straight visits to Paris.

It has taken Nadal to end four of Hewitt's past five French campaigns and Roche is not ruling out another strong run from his tenacious charge.

"It's his first tournament back from his operation. It's a big ask, but he could do it if he got the right draw," he said.

"Unfortunately, he's not going to be seeded so you've got to rely on a good passage through that first week and not running into, say, the top three or four guys.

"But Lleyton is still as keen as ever. He feels in the grand slams, given the right opportunity, that he can still be competitive with the top guys."

Roche said ideally the two-time French quarter-finalist would win a couple of rounds in Paris to gain some valuable match practice before the grasscourt season.

"I know he's looking forward to Wimbledon, getting on the grass," Roche said.

"He sees that surface as being well suited to his game.

"Two years ago, he lost to (Andy) Roddick in five sets (in the quarter-finals) and actually had a break in the fifth and Roddick came up with an unbelievable shot and Roddick nearly beat Federer in the final.

"So he's not too far away. One point there and he could have been in the final.

"So if he gets the matches under his belt and good preparation, he can do very, very well at Wimbledon."

- AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, france

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