Hewitt welcomes Djokovic challenge

Updated May 26, 2012 11:42:48

Lleyton Hewitt would relish a dream French Open showdown with history-chasing Novak Djokovic should his battered body survive its first competitive workout in four months.

Hewitt will take on Slovenian qualifier Blaz Kavcic in his long-awaited comeback from foot surgery and is acutely aware that victory would set up a second-round tussle with Serbia's all-conquering world number one.

"It would be a good challenge that's for sure," Hewitt said after a typically gruelling practice session on Friday under the discerning eye of super coach Tony Roche.

Even Hewitt would admit to being a raging underdog to shatter Djokovic's dreams of becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam trophies.

But that's just how he likes it.

"He's going to be competitive no matter what happens," Roche said.

Djokovic needs no reminding how dangerous the lion-hearted baseline slugger can be after overcoming some nervous moments in a high-quality fourth-round encounter at this year's Australian Open.

"Lleyton is a legend of our sport," Djokovic said after Friday's draw.

"He has had so much success on the tour. He's still a great competitor and he has shown that in the Australian Open.

"We played four sets, a tough match. I haven't seen him playing lately and clay is not his favourite surface, but he's always out there. You can always expect him to go and fight until the last ball."

Clay may indeed not be his favourite surface, but Hewitt is certainly no mug either on the red dirt of Roland Garros.

The 31-year-old former world number one is proud to be the only player in the 128-man draw, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer included, to have reached the last 32 in 10 straight appearances in Paris.

"I've played really well here," Hewitt said.

"I've gotten better as the years have gone on and nearly everyone I've lost to here has been a bloody good player really, one of the top guys who has obviously gone on to close to winning the tournament."

In fact, the dogged South Australian has lost to six-times champion Nadal in three of his past four French campaigns.

In other years, it's taken eventual winner Gaston Gaudio and fellow Roland Garros champions Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero to stop Hewitt.

The dual major winner will almost certainly go down swinging once more against the tournament's top seed.

But he views any court time against a quality opponent a bonus before heading to London for Wimbledon and the ensuing Olympics at his beloved All England Club.

"It's motivation enough just to get here," Hewitt said.

"I'm going to pull up a bit sore, I'm sure, after my first match for a long time, so for me physically it's more about it's about trying to get all that out of the way before the grasscourt season really.

"I'm not coming here with the highest expectations."

AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, france, australia, serbia

First posted May 26, 2012 09:40:20

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Nadal fights off Tsonga challenge

Updated March 29, 2012 16:44:21

World number two Rafa Nadal has qualified for the semi-finals of the Miami Masters, but only after being pushed all the way by France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Nadal threw away chances for an easier win, before he finally emerged with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory in two hours, 49 minutes.

Nadal next faces fourth-seeded British player Andy Murray, who also had to fight hard for his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Serb Janko Tipsarevic.

Having won the first set comfortably, Nadal was within two points of victory on his own serve at 5-4 in the second set.

However Tsonga began his comeback by breaking the Spaniard's serve, aided by an untimely double-fault from Nadal.

He won three games in a row, claiming the set with a magnificent forehand return winner.

The third set produced some highly entertaining tennis and the Frenchman combined explosive shots, deft slices and glorious backhand work around the net to stay in touch.

Tsonga came close to breaking in the sixth game but Nadal held his nerve. The pair managed to remain on serve until the ninth game, when Nadal made the decisive break.

Although the Frenchman staved off a number of match points, the second seed claimed the match when Tsonga dumped a forehand into the net.

Medical attention

Murray was also given a scare as the world number four trailed by a set and a break before receiving medical attention for what appeared to be a stomach problem.

The Scot then promptly turned the match around as he broke the next service game from ninth seed Tipsarevic and went on to clinch the second set.

He then broke in the third game of the final set and held firm with his serve to ensure a last-four showdown against Nadal.

Overall Murray's backhand was below standard, contributing to a worrying tally of 34 unforced errors.

Murray said after the game that his health problem was almost certainly related to over-hydrating before the game.

"I have this thing that tests how hydrated you are, which I used for the match, and (afterwards) I was very hydrated, even though I'd drunk nothing the last couple of sets,'' Murray said.

"So I don't know if I drunk too much beforehand and kind of over-hydrated and my stomach was filled with liquid.

"It was so hot and humid, and to come off the court hydrated after not really drinking would probably suggest that I had drunk way too much."

Reuters

Tags: sport, tennis, united-states

First posted March 29, 2012 13:08:50

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Tomic focussed on Federer challenge

Updated January 21, 2012 20:00:52

John Tomic once famously claimed his prodigiously talented son could win "10 to 15 grand slams".

On Sunday night, Bernard Tomic will play somebody who already has - but the 19-year-old refuses to believe he cannot pull off a tennis miracle at Melbourne Park.

"I've got to go out there feeling good and have a go and try to win," Tomic said ahead of his Australian Open fourth-round blockbuster with Roger Federer.

Tomic's showdown with the 16-times major winner looms as the most anticipated clash between an Australian teenager and legend of the game at Melbourne Park since Mark Philippoussis rocked Rod Laver Arena in 1996.

Tomic admits emulating Philippoussis's earth-moving Open win over Pete Sampras 16 years ago to end Federer's extraordinary record streak of 30 consecutive grand slam quarter-final appearances is the greatest challenge of his burgeoning career.

But after six victories over top-20 rivals in the past two weeks, Tomic is dreaming big.

"Playing Roger is an experience that I'll always remember," the world number 38 said.

"Hopefully I can play well and relax and have fun. I just have to go out there and focus and I think I can have a good tennis match and, who knows, maybe win.

"(My) confidence now, last three weeks, has been better than it's probably ever been."

Federer last failed to reach the final eight at a slam at the 2004 French Open and even Tomic conceded the Swiss freak's numbers would never be matched.

"Yeah, 16 grand slams - that's the only thing that comes to mind. It's a scary number," he said.

"What he's achieved is unbelievable. I think nobody in tennis will ever achieve that."

Federer outclassed Tomic in four sets in their only previous meeting, in a grasscourt Davis Cup tie at Royal Sydney four months ago.

"Having played him before, I think I have an intense sense of what he can do and where he can hurt me, where he can't," Tomic said.

"It's a tough thing to beat Roger and to even think about beating him.

"I'm happy to know I got a set off him last time and that's confidence there.

"I think I can get the balls down to where Roger probably can't use his backhand enough. He has one of the best forehands in the world.

"I think I play really smart. Hopefully my smartness can make me win a set or two, maybe even win. I can't guarantee. It's Roger."

Acutely aware that Federer, the peerless front-runner, is 186-2 after winning the first set, Tomic said he would "pray to God" and hope for a flying start.

"If I get up and maybe win the first set, it's a very, very important key to this match," Tomic said.

"I have to go out there and believe in myself. I've got the crowd on my side and that's all I can do."

When Tomic won the US Open junior title in 2009, his father and coach urged Tennis Australia to break the bank to ensure his son parlayed his immense talent into grand slam riches.

Tomic is unsure whether he is quite ready to win his first next Sunday night, but is vowing to give it a shake.

"To win a grand slam now you've got to beat three, four players in the draw that are the best tennis players in the world," he said when asked if it was possible for a young gun to upstage the established superstars at Melbourne Park.

"It's not like 10 years ago where you had to beat one or two good ones. Now everyone can play and everyone in the top 50, 100 can play tennis.

"If you win seven matches in a row and have the confidence, I think it's possible but very, very difficult at this age 19, 20, 21.

"I think we go to battle and see. Maybe one of us can do it."

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted January 21, 2012 20:00:52

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Djokovic throws down the challenge

Updated January 12, 2012 13:43:14

Even with Messieurs Federer, Nadal, Murray and company circling, Novak Djokovic seriously thinks he can kick-start another 41-match winning run with a successful Australian Open title defence.

So supremely confident is Djokovic after his crazy 2011, when he went unbeaten until June and swept to 10 titles, including three slams, that the powerhouse Serb believes he can do it all again.

Maybe even eclipse what many believe was the finest season in history, given his chief rivals are already considered among the all-time greats of the game.

"My success gives me a reason to believe that I can win again. Why not?" Djokovic said as he pursues, for starters, a third Open crown at Melbourne Park.

"It doesn't make any sense to be anything other than optimistic. I need to believe in my qualities and my abilities and I need to believe that I can repeat the success.

"Of course it is going to be an incredibly difficult task to achieve, but you never know - nothing is really impossible."

Djokovic enters the season-opening major after swatting Federer aside to win the pre-Open exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.

After beginning 2011 with a crushing straight-sets Open final win over Murray, he then humbled the second-ranked Nadal in all six finals they met in last year.

Nadal, a 10-time major champion, must quickly rediscover his mojo after departing from the season-ending World Tour Finals without making the semis and confessing to having a "little bit less passion for the game".

The Spaniard's subsequent loss to Gael Monfils in Doha to open 2012 did little to restore faith among his millions of fans.

Federer, Murray and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will likely be feeling more confident.

Despite a back problem curtailing his Qatar campaign, Federer will carry a 20-match winning streak to Melbourne - which included a record sixth title at the year-end championships in London - plus a hunger to atone for his first slam-less year since 2002.

"To win grand slams would be nice," the Swiss ace said.

"I feel like it might be around the corner ... I'm very happy and upbeat about what's to come."

Only Djokovic bettered Murray's five trophies in 2011 and the 24-year-old Scot feels closer than ever to finally breaking through at a major after opening 2012 with success in Brisbane.

"I'm a year wiser and another year more experienced and I think I've improved a few things in my game so I'd say so," said Murray, the Open finalist for the past two years.

"I could win the tournament if I play my best."

As could Tsonga, the 2008 runner-up to Djokovic who upstaged - not for the first time - Federer and Nadal to reign in Doha.

"I tried to be more aggressive and be very competitive because against Roger, Rafa or Novak, that's what you have to do," Tsonga said.

"You have to be aggressive. I tried to do that and it worked."

AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, vic, melbourne-3000

First posted January 12, 2012 13:43:14

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Tennis Challenge beset by Blake withdrawal

Updated December 29, 2011 16:52:30

American James Blake has pulled out of next month's World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide for the second year in a row.

Blake was to partner American veteran John McEnroe on the Memorial Drive courts but says his pre-season training has been hampered by treatment on off-season injuries.

Organisers say they are confident of attracting a high-calibre replacement for the American, who has been ranked as high as number four in the world.

The tournament has been beset by late withdrawals in recent years.

Japanese youngster Kei Nishikori pulled out of this year's tournament because of illness.

The three-day competition begins on January 10.

Blake will also miss the Australian Open.

Tags: tennis, adelaide-5000, sa

First posted December 29, 2011 16:49:02

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Stosur survives Russian challenge

Samantha Stosur of Australia wipes her brow during her marathon match against Nadia Petrova of Russia during the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in Flushing, Queens on September 2, 2011

Tags: tennis, sport, united-states

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Djokovic to challenge Nadal's ranking

Published:Saturday, May 21, 2011 7:22 AESTExpires:Friday, August 19, 2011 7:22 AEST

Novak Djokovic may take Rafael Nadal's number one world tennis ranking if he continues his unbeaten streak at the French Open.

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Tags: tennis, france, spain, united-states, serbia

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