Hewitt up for one last stand
By Chris Wilson
December 14
LLEYTON Hewitt is slogging it out like a man who makes his living on a football field rather than one fighting to save a tennis career.Grand slams or grand finals, Hewitt knows his make-or-break season starts the first week of January and there's optimism he can be standing with the best at season's end.
"I want to have a crack at trying to get top 10 and get in the Masters Cup for the end of next year,'' Hewitt says. "But you've got to play a lot of tournaments to be able to do that and that's where it comes back to the hip holding up, and every other body part.''
It's the big question for Hewitt, whether his stellar career is cooked. Hewitt is working hard on his answer. It's why, after a hip operation in August, Hewitt has been swimming, running, cycling, climbing stairs and stretching, all before picking up his racquet, which he did two weeks ago.
The 27-year-old has no doubt his tennis will still stack up, provided his body can stay in the game. He is training up to six hours a day, half of that on court. He is ranked 67 in the world, but sweating with the desire of a player who has never won a grand slam or seen the view of world tennis from the very top.
"I actually enjoy it, it's like a pre-season in football,'' Hewitt says. "If you're fit you're playing most weeks on tour. So this is a good opportunity for me not just to look at the Australian summer, but also the 2009 calendar. Hopefully, I can get my body in as good a shape as possible to see me right through next year.''
The injury
Bundled out of the Beijing Olympics by Rafael Nadal in straight sets, Hewitt finally had surgery on a left hip that had bothered him all year. Hewitt was restricted to 11 tournaments in 2008. He couldn't even bare to watch the US Open, the first major he had missed since the French Open in 2005.
"I basically tried to go out this year and play the grand slams probably 70 per cent really,'' Hewitt says. "It's obviously tough to come back from any kind of surgery and especially with my style of game, with a lot of running, scrambling and getting a lot of balls back.''
Hewitt says he has talked to friends at the Adelaide Crows about training and rehabilitation. "I think I train more like a football player than a tennis player in a lot of ways, which has helped me in the past,'' he says. "I'm trying to strengthen the muscles around the hip again. The last couple of weeks have been getting better and better each day.''
The comeback
When Hewitt plays German Nicolas Kiefer in the Hopman Cup on January 5, it will be his first match in 146 days. He is guaranteed at least two more matches in Perth, against Dominik Hrbaty and James Blake. But Hewitt's acid test will be the Medibank International in Sydney from January 11-17.
"You're always going to be nervous, I guess. But it's a happy hunting ground for me, I've always played extremely well there,'' the four-time Sydney winner says. "I think the ball striking will come back quite quickly. Even on the practice court now, I feel like I'm hitting it sweetly. It's probably just the footwork and structuring points again.''
The Open
A spiralling ranking won't afford Hewitt any favours on his return. But he says he has no fear about entering the Australian Open unseeded for the first time since 1999.
"If you draw a lot of those lower top-10 guys, I've still got winning records against nearly all of those guys,'' Hewitt says. "Obviously you'd prefer to stay away from those top three or four guys that are the real standouts, especially on a hardcourt surface. But if you can knock out one of the other seeds early on, the draw can open up for you. I still feel like against the better guys I've definitely got a good shot.''
The competitors
A new breed has entered the world's top 10, with 20-year-olds like Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro. There's even a new king, for the first time in more than four years, with Nadal taking over from Roger Federer. "You can't take Roger out of the mix,'' Hewitt says, denying tennis has a new world order.
Hewitt also refuses to concede he no longer belongs in the top 10. He made the fourth round at the Australian Open last year, losing to eventual champion Djokovic. He did likewise at Wimbledon, losing to Federer. At the French, he was beaten in a third-round marathon by Spanish clay-court specialist David Ferrer.
Hewitt says he has more potential to realise under coach Tony Roche. "We went out with a little bit different style of game plan on the clay court (this year) which really helped. I was pretty aggressive, I mixed it up, used angles. Then Wimbledon, I played well too. Rochey obviously knows a lot about those majors and how to play under those circumstances. I'm fortunate to have him in my corner.''
Aussie pride
Hewitt credits Roche and John Newcombe for teaching him about national passion through Davis Cup.
Hewitt says it still stands, despite the depression in Australian tennis. A Davis Cup winner in 1999 and 2003, Hewitt will lead Australia against Thailand in March in the Asia/Oceania play-offs.
"It's not quite as exciting (next) year as other years when we've been playing in semis and finals. But that's a huge priority, to get back in the world group for 2010. Hopefully, a couple of the other younger Australians can really step up by then as well. I want to lead by example. But it's a matter of those guys wanting to play for their country as well, the passion's got to come from within.''
The future
Hewitt chooses his words carefully but he labels this the "last phase of my career''. Still, he has no finish date in mind.
But here are some numbers to ponder. Hewitt didn't win a tournament this year, for the first time in a decade.
His last title was in Las Vegas 21 months ago, while he won his majors at the US Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002.
"It's still grand slams, that's what drives me. I'd love nothing more than to win another major,'' Hewitt says.
"I really want to have a proper crack at it in the next few years. A lot probably depends on the body as well, how I feel.''
There's that question again. Not long now until we get the answer.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24796079-5012689,00.html
