Tuesday, August 08, 2000
Aussie Hewitt's gonna fly now
Talented teen makes Cincinnati debut today
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Lleyton Hewitt
(AP photo)
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MASON — He's nicknamed Rocky because he worships the movies of the same name. He's a tiny tennis player who longs to play Australian Rules Football. He's a heartthrob who could soon surpass Patrick Rafter as his home country's hottest hunk — and top talent.
He's Lleyton Hewitt, the 19-year-old Australian making his Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati debut today in a first-round match against Fabrice Santoro.
“I don't think he's part of the future; I think he's part of the present,” veteran Todd Martin said. “I think he's one of the five or 10 best players in the world at this time.”
Hewitt is 44-10 this year, second on the ATP Tour in victories behind only Magnus Norman (50-15), and his .815 winning percentage is second only to Alex Corretja (.822). Hewitt's four tournament titles this year lead the Tour.
He is young, rich and handsome. His celebrity grows exponentially.
“I can't walk anywhere in (Australia) without being noticed,” he said. “It has hampered me a little bit with autographs and stuff, but you've got to give time back to the public. It's been a good learning experience for me.”
In January 1998, Hewitt won the Tour event in his hometown of Adelaide, sandwiching his matches between high school classes. He was just 16, the youngest Tour winner since Michael Chang in 1988 and the lowest-ranked winner (No. 550) in Tour history.
He ended 1999 ranked 22nd, the first teen-ager since Andrei Medvedev in 1992 to finish in the top 25, and under the new ranking system he's now No. 8.
“This year has been fantastic,” Hewitt said. “But there's a lot of room for improvement in my game. I think as soon as you start thinking that you're there, that's when you're going to go backwards. My dream is to one day be the No.1 player in the world.”
The 5-foot-11, 145-pound Hewitt nearly chose a career in Australian Rules Football, which his father played professionally. To look at him is to know he made the right career choice.
“I was playing it when I was 13 or 14, and I was average height and weight back then,” he said. “If I was playing it now, I'd probably have to put on a bit of beef. There's some pretty big boys that play.
“A lot of people come up to me and say, "Oh, that's such a dangerous sport, I can't believe you'd like to play that.' It's not that dangerous. Obviously you'll get your knee reconstructions and stuff like that, but it's no more (dangerous) than rugby.”
His tennis style is pure boxer, hammering away from the baseline with jabs and counterpunches. As Hewitt describes it, “They're going to have to kill me to beat me.”
That's where the Rocky mentality comes in. He owns all five Rocky movies on DVD and says he has seen them hundreds of times each. He occasionally pops one in his portable computer to watch before matches.
“They're very motivational,” he said. “If I play my best tennis pumped up, I feel comfortable doing it.”
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