Tennis: Lleyton Hewitt Out Of Australian Open
January 21st 2009 14:58
Australian tennis, already at an all-time low, is set to plumb to pathetic levels unless Chris Guccione or 2007 Australian Open junior champion Brydan Klein can make an unlikely charge to the last 16 of the season's opening grand slam.
Lleyton Hewitt will plummet outside the world's top 100 following his 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 loss to big-hitting Fernando Gonzalez on Tuesday, leaving the 28-times Davis Cup-winning nation in danger of being the laughing stock of the tennis world.
Should Guccione or Klein fail to pull off a series of upsets this week, Australia will be without a man in the top 100 for the first time ever.
Hewitt, though, is refusing to give up on his Open dreams despite tumbling to a decade-low ranking after watching helplessly as Gonzalez clubbed 67 winners to eliminate him in three hours and seven minutes at Rod Laver Laver Arena.
The gallant loss was Hewitt's first first-round exit at Melbourne Park since being struck down with chickenpox as the tournament's top seed back in 2002 and snapped the South Australian's streak of seven successive five-set triumphs at his home grand slam.
All things considered, though, it was another mighty effort from Hewitt, who only returned to the courts last month after a five-month layoff following career-saving hip surgery.
The drama-charged fifth set could have gone either way as the two players traded service breaks in the fourth and fifth games.
Leading 3-2, but having just dropped serve, a tiring Gonzalez took a medical timeout to have both legs massaged.
The break didn't help Hewitt, who immediately double-faulted on the resumption of play, then dumped a forehand into the net before the South American nailed a scorching crosscourt forehand pass to grab another break and a match-winning 4-2 lead.
Hewitt lamented squandering three break-point opportunities at 1-1 in the decider.
"I felt at that stage I was starting to get back on top," Hewitt said.
"Early in that fifth set, it would have been nice to go up an early break ... it could have been a little bit different."
Ultimately, Hewitt's wretched draw put paid to the unseeded former grand slam champion's hopes of venturing deep into the draw.
But the 27-year-old has already planned a hectic schedule comprising of tournaments in San Jose, starting in two weeks, then Memphis, Houston, Indian Wells and Miami as he sets about regaining his place in the world's top 20.
"I'm right there," Hewitt said.
"The guys that I've lost to, especially the last two weeks, they're both top 15 at the moment.
"But when they're at their best, (David) Nalbandian is possibly a top-five, top-seven player and Gonzalez is a top-10 player.
"The two losses haven't been the worst losses on paper. I probably could have easily won both those matches."
Hewitt, eyeing another tilt at Open glory in 2009, rejected reports that he considered retiring after the Beijing Olympics, when his nagging hip injury ended his season.
"As soon as I flew back from Beijing, I landed that morning, then that afternoon I was under the knife. If I was going to retire, then I wouldn't have had the surgery done," he said.
"It wasn't something that was going to affect me in everyday life for the rest of my life.
"It was something that, if I want to still play tennis, then it had to be done."
AAP
Lleyton Hewitt will plummet outside the world's top 100 following his 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 loss to big-hitting Fernando Gonzalez on Tuesday, leaving the 28-times Davis Cup-winning nation in danger of being the laughing stock of the tennis world.
Should Guccione or Klein fail to pull off a series of upsets this week, Australia will be without a man in the top 100 for the first time ever.
Hewitt, though, is refusing to give up on his Open dreams despite tumbling to a decade-low ranking after watching helplessly as Gonzalez clubbed 67 winners to eliminate him in three hours and seven minutes at Rod Laver Laver Arena.
The gallant loss was Hewitt's first first-round exit at Melbourne Park since being struck down with chickenpox as the tournament's top seed back in 2002 and snapped the South Australian's streak of seven successive five-set triumphs at his home grand slam.
All things considered, though, it was another mighty effort from Hewitt, who only returned to the courts last month after a five-month layoff following career-saving hip surgery.
The drama-charged fifth set could have gone either way as the two players traded service breaks in the fourth and fifth games.
Leading 3-2, but having just dropped serve, a tiring Gonzalez took a medical timeout to have both legs massaged.
The break didn't help Hewitt, who immediately double-faulted on the resumption of play, then dumped a forehand into the net before the South American nailed a scorching crosscourt forehand pass to grab another break and a match-winning 4-2 lead.
Hewitt lamented squandering three break-point opportunities at 1-1 in the decider.
"I felt at that stage I was starting to get back on top," Hewitt said.
"Early in that fifth set, it would have been nice to go up an early break ... it could have been a little bit different."
Ultimately, Hewitt's wretched draw put paid to the unseeded former grand slam champion's hopes of venturing deep into the draw.
But the 27-year-old has already planned a hectic schedule comprising of tournaments in San Jose, starting in two weeks, then Memphis, Houston, Indian Wells and Miami as he sets about regaining his place in the world's top 20.
"I'm right there," Hewitt said.
"The guys that I've lost to, especially the last two weeks, they're both top 15 at the moment.
"But when they're at their best, (David) Nalbandian is possibly a top-five, top-seven player and Gonzalez is a top-10 player.
"The two losses haven't been the worst losses on paper. I probably could have easily won both those matches."
Hewitt, eyeing another tilt at Open glory in 2009, rejected reports that he considered retiring after the Beijing Olympics, when his nagging hip injury ended his season.
"As soon as I flew back from Beijing, I landed that morning, then that afternoon I was under the knife. If I was going to retire, then I wouldn't have had the surgery done," he said.
"It wasn't something that was going to affect me in everyday life for the rest of my life.
"It was something that, if I want to still play tennis, then it had to be done."
AAP
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