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Hewitt Flashes Vintage Greatness in Destroying Nedovyesov on Court 11
15 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
The Laura Robson vs Elena Vesnina marathon finally ended with the Russian prevailing 7-5 in the third, and so we got to see the great Lleyton Hewitt take the court at the US Open for perhaps the final time.
His opponent was Alexander Nedovyesov, the same guy he beat in three sets in Davis Cup in Darwin, Australia to clinch a berth for Australia into the semis vs England later this month.
Hewitt marched out to the court to a nice applause with his black outfit and white cap pointed forward. His tall Kazak rival wore yellow and gray.
There was a lively atmosphere at the court, with a small group of yellow donned Fanatics singing up a storm in the warmups from behind Hewitt’s baseline. Hewitt’s mom, dad, wife and friends were in one corner of the main bleacher, and his coach Jaymon Crabb and a couple of others stationed at the opposite corner on the other end.
Hewitt raced out to an electrifying start, playing perfect textbook Hewitt tennis, making every return and counter punching with precision. Nedovyesov was helpless, losing by a bagel. The Fanatics maintained their impact on the match, with their assorted songs and chants for their beloved hero which amused and entertained the stadium.
Hewitt, who lost in straight sets on Ashe Stadium last year to Berdych, showed no direct acknowledgement of the Fanatics (until the match end when he gave them a Vicht hand signal) and stayed focused on the task at hand, which was to subdue a dangerous opponent.
The match became a battle in the second set. They traded breaks and a sense of worry filled the stadium, Hewitt could begin to wilt. There was I think one fan who called out Come on Alex once or twice, this was Hewitt’s house. The big man started to trouble Hewitt with his power and shots and was in position to win the second set at 54 and two points away but Hewitt found a way to hold and survive some more adversity, then force a tiebreak which he won. The Kazak crumbled after that and serving in the second game suddenly decided to quit.
Hewitt’s intensity is channeled different now than his younger days, his come ons are muffled, seemingly to not disrespect the opponent, but the competitive inferno still burns with a fury and passion — when frustrated Hewitt will bark out comments like, “the breeze took that” after a double fault, or “SHI*” after a silly miss. Hewitt also chatters contrite explanations and reasons after mistakes or lost points. And you can see how much this all still means to the man who will officially hang up the Yonexes in January in Melbourne.
Hewitt was reserved in victory, waving to the crowd and holding a prolonged fist into the air, saluting his two boxes, the fans and finally the Fanatics. A smiling Hewitt then signed for the kids and people behind his chair, it was interesting to see the diversity of Hewitt fans attending this match, ranging from black and Asian males and females, older people, kids, a nice white woman next to me, and just a few media were at the court, including Peter Bodo for a while and the Aussie actor George Lazenby who once portrayed James Bond, but later opted to not to the role anymore, blowing millions of dollars and giving Sean Connery the opportunity to be a big star.
For one afternoon again at the US Open, it was Lleyton Hewitt mania — for perhaps the final time we saw the magic of one of the most unique and exciting champions of modern tennis history, perform his incomparable fighting spirit and renowned and beloved playing style.
Here is Hewitt’s post match press conference interview —
Q. How tough were the conditions?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was hot and humid out there. Obviously sweating a lot, which was just hard. But it’s hard for everyone out there, as well. I felt like I got off to a great start. Came out and executed my game plan perfectly. You know, just through the second set he obviously started serving a little bit better. He’s an awkward opponent because I wanted to be aggressive and play on my terms, but it’s a bit hit-and-miss out there so you’re trying to make him play that extra shot as well. If you don’t get enough on it, he’s capable of hitting winners. I was happy to play a really good tiebreak.
Q. Was the decision to come here to get some more match practice for the Davis Cup?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, pretty much. After we won the Davis Cup tie, I wanted to play obviously. Wally and Pat, Joshua Eagle and Rochey, everyone wanted me to play. Obviously take a wild card, could have gone to another Aussie, but I felt like to give myself the best opportunity for the Davis Cup tie, it was the right decision.
Q. You obviously played him in Davis Cup. Different surface.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah.
Q. Do you feel he was more at home on this surface?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It’s hard to say ’cause, you know, his serve and his forehand are dangerous. But, as I said, he can miss a lot of shots out there, as well. The court probably suited me, gave me a slight advantage over hard court against that opponent. But he played bloody well against Nick on the day one in Davis Cup on that court. He can play on grass, as well.
Q. The prospect of playing Bernie next…
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, just awkward. That’s the only thing to summarize that. I get along great with Bernie. Helped him out a lot. Hit with him this week. Yeah, just awkward.
Q. Could you point to the two or three really most special moments in your career.
LLEYTON HEWITT: That’s hard. Davis Cup means a lot. Winning especially in 2003 when I played so well in the semis and the final. You know, doing it in a team atmosphere in Australia was pretty special. Getting to world No. 1 in Australia, in Sydney. Yeah, my good mate and idol growing up Pat Rafter with me on the court. Yeah, it’s hard to separate obviously the US Open and Wimbledon. US Open was my first slam. But for me there was always something really special about Wimbledon.
Q. Roger just spoke about how different rivals pushed him through his career. Which two or three players really pushed you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I guess early on Agassi, you know. He came back and took the No. 1 off me. Then I was able to get it back for a bit. He was just such a quality player. Obviously Roger took the game to a new level, and then Rafa. It was obviously bloody hard to keep up with those guys.
Q. You never played Bernie before. Something that you always looked forward to, had much banter about?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, never really spoken about it. As I said, you know, Bernie and I have got a really good relationship. He trusts me a lot. Yeah, I don’t like playing any of the Aussies. I had to play Kokkinakis last year in Brisbane. I played Grothy in Brisbane this year. I had to play ^ J.P. Smith only a couple of weeks ago. For me, in the position that I’m in now, trying to help these guys especially with Davis Cup and the rest of it, yeah, it’s tough.
Q. What is your enduring memory of your win here? What do you think back on?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Obviously beating probably the greatest at the time, Pete Sampras, in the final, in his home Grand Slam. The semifinal and final I felt invincible out there. Didn’t feel like I could miss a ball.
Q. Did you go into that match with Pete unsure or did you feel massively confident?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Pete hadn’t dropped serve for something ridiculous going into the final. I remember sitting right here, everyone saying, You can’t beat him, you can’t break his serve. I just tried and I broke him first game, so… That gave me a lot of confidence. I remember walking out for the final, Pete Sampras is out there at the coin toss. Ivan Lendl is actually doing the coin toss. These are two guys I grew up idolizing going to the Australian Open every year. For me it was a surreal feeling, but it gave me confidence for the rest of my career going out there and being able to play well in those situations and not be in awe of the situation.
Q. Controversy early on, did that help you with handling the media?
LLEYTON HEWITT: A little bit. I’ve always been able to block things out really well. I was able to do it those two weeks. I guess in terms of crowds and stuff, playing Pete in the final, nearly everyone was obviously going for Pete. But I’d played him Davis Cup big matches before that already in pretty hostile arenas. To me it didn’t faze me at all.
Q. Spent a few days with Nick. What was your advice to him and do you feel for him at all? Pretty difficult month.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I do feel for him. Yeah, he’s a good kid. Yeah, just trying to work through certain things more on court than anything. You know, he’s obviously got a totally different game style to me. But I think a lot of my bigger strengths, if he can tweak his just a little bit in some way, it’s really going to be beneficial to his game moving forward. He obviously has a rough draw here but we’ll see what happens.
Q. Didn’t speak at all about his trouble?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, we speak about everything (smiling).
Q. You talked about your performance here in New York. You also had an incredible performance in Davis Cup in Boston. What are your takeaways from that experience?
LLEYTON HEWITT: From Boston?
Q. Yeah, early in your career.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I beat Todd Martin who was No. 4 in the world at the time in four sets in extreme conditions. As I’ve always said, Davis Cup means so much to me. I was fortunate to come up at a time with Newk and Roche. They let me know what Davis Cup is about, especially playing for Australia. Yeah, I’ve just tried to lead by example with that the rest of my career.
Q. This tie coming up, do you feel that passion is there with the other guys as well?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Sam is growing as a player. He’s made massive inroads from the Czech Republic when he played his first live match to Darwin. I think it’s really helped him as a player week in and week out. Just that belief, you know, getting over those nerves of going out there and not just playing for yourself. He was great, fantastic.
Q. When you leave this tour, one chapter of the tennis history is going to be closed. You are the last player to make a full Grand Slam season in the last three decades.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Just makes me feel old, Mate (smiling).
Q. How do you feel?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Old (laughter). Roger and I are the same age. Obviously I just came on tour just a little bit before him. He’s obviously not struggling at the age of 34 out there. He’s playing okay. No, obviously everyone has to call ‘time’ at some stage. I’m very comfortable with how it’s all panning out at the moment.
Q. You’ve achieved success, reached the No. 1 ranking in the world. As you close a chapter on your career, what’s the next step for Lleyton Hewitt? Will you try to go into coaching, mentorship program, be an example for some of the younger players? Will you try to be a role model, as well?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Mainly I’ll be selfish and try to help the Aussies. I’m not going to lie. That’s what I’m passionate about. I still feel I can more so at the moment help with guys on the court, dealing with certain things off the court. I think that’s my biggest strength at the moment. How much I do in the future, I can’t tell you.
Q. Going into tonight, what do you think that Nick’s best qualities are as a player and just as a bloke?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, obviously he’s got such a powerful game. I’d love to have his serve obviously. I would have won a lot more big tournaments if I had that weapon. But it’s how he backs it up, as well. For a big guy, he moves well around the court. He can hit winners from anywhere. That’s why he’s so exciting to watch. As a bloke, he’s pretty reserved for how you see him on the court. You know, he trusts me at least, which is a big step forward. Obviously I’ve been able to earn that trust being in Davis Cup teams and showing that I do care about his career.
Q. You were talking about Davis Cup. You play for your teammates and your country. Singles is about you. Are you ready to turn the chapter away from that as you near the end of your career? Has that helped you to say, It’s time to put that part of my life down and help others come up?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Mate, it’s been like that the last few years. I’ve had that many Aussie young boys come and stay at my house and train with me, whether it’s in Sydney, Bahamas, Adelaide, wherever it’s been. It’s been like that for a long time. Davis Cup for me has been a massive passion. It’s the reason that I still played this year, is because I feel like we had a good opportunity to do well, and I could still add something to the Davis Cup team as a player this year. I made no secret that my goal this year is to go as far as we can in Davis Cup.
Hewitt shines bright at US Open
Andrew Miller · September 2, 2015 at 10:24 pm
I like it that Hewitt, not unlike Roddick, made Davis Cup his passion.
Today on Tennis.com, Steve Tignor wrote an awesome piece on Mardy Fish and his last match with Feliciano Lopez. Must’ve been a great match. Seems as if Fish allowed Lopez to win it so he didn’t have to – but so that Fish would be ok. Fish’s story over at “The players tribune”, which Tignor’s piece links to, is pretty awesome. I always thought it was odd how Fish retired, then was on the pro golf tour and for whatever reason wasn’t coming back.
I’m glad he did a partial comeback and ended his career this way. I also thought his story , the one he wrote, was amazing. You get the sense from the player’s perspective what it’s like to do awesome. And then what it feels like when you are doing awesome and it’s as if you have to protect something all of the sudden – as if looking down from the summit is actually scary.
It was interesting to see how similarly a player like Fish sees the sport actually to someone like a fan. We talk here in the comments section on T-P about how so and so is ahead in the rankings of so and so. Well guess what…that’s EXACTLY how the players refer to it also. Fish himself said that he was excited to pass players like Roddick to take over the #1 spot in U.S. tennis and to win huge matches.
When a player reaches those heights they know it, clearly. I was surprised though that it’s exactly how they see it – that Fish was surprising himself with how well he was playing until suddenly he felt the pressure to do even better and that drive to do better – even in the top 10 – basically unraveled him and ruined the rest of his career.
I like how Tignor said that it was awesome to see Fish do well and reach his potential however briefly.
Scoop Malinowski · September 2, 2015 at 11:42 pm
There will be a Hewitt Cup some day ) Always liked Fish as a person, he always had a normal regular guy persona about him, yet the talent of a superstar — and then in the twilight of his career he finally put it all together and shocked everyone by becoming a solid top ten pro, right there with the elites, giving Fed and Djok tough battles and posting several wins over Murray and a win over Nadal — still say the Lloyd Carroll journeyman label on Mardy at Mardy’s press conference sparked the whole Fish career surge — here’s the link https://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/7265/
Dan Markowitz · September 3, 2015 at 2:14 am
I’m surprised but glad to see Coco Vandeweghe get killed by Sands. I’m just not a Coco for cocoa puffs fan. She’s like the Rhino of women’s American tennis, a lot better, no doubt, but she’s always saying she thinks she can be no. 1, oh really, than how about not losing to a player just coming back from injuries badly after just beating Sloane Stephens. And how about not doing something so cheesy and disrespectful like having an in-match interview.
I absolutely dislike Craig Kardon, her coach, who’s also won of the big blowhards and self-promoters the game has ever seen. He was coaching Spadea for a spell when we wrote Break Point, and Kardon is completely full of himself.
Rob · September 3, 2015 at 8:16 am
Dan, just read that ‘Break Point’ of yours – great stuff. The tone is just right and Spadea’s comments and observation are priceless. Wondering if you guys at T.P had any other recommendations re tennis books (other than the ‘Facing’ series).
Scoop Malinowski · September 3, 2015 at 8:40 am
Break Point is an excellent unique read Rob, you made a good choice — there are so many excellent reads — Jack Kramer The Game, Agassi Open, Sampras Bodo book, Rafa, McEnroe’s book, Patrick McEnroe’s book, John Feinstein’s Hard Courts, Levels of the Game, Handful of Summers, Bodo’s Inside Tennis (from the 70s), Ken Rosewall bio, so many excellent tennis books, Winning Ugly, Bollettieri’s two books, Jimbo’s new book, forgetting some off the top of my head too — Eliot Berry’s book Top Spin —
Dan Markowitz · September 3, 2015 at 9:21 am
Thank you, Rob. Vince is a different cat. I loved the book about the German World War II player, Gottfried Von Cramm, “The Splendor of the Game.” I just read Bodo’s book about Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe and the 1975 Wimbledon finals, and I felt Bodo did a real nice job of telling that story.
Dan markowitz · September 3, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Out here on Grandstand where Lisicki is bombing in serves. She just hit a125mph ace down the middle. Giorgi is a small girl but she’s got powerful legs and they are both rocking the rallies. Lisicki is serving for first set and she has it. I love this match because they both blister the ball and play at a very fast pace.
I’m sitting just down the row from Giorgi’s wild-white-haired dad and he’s definitely nervous. I saw Chung play and lose earlier to Wawa and that kid’s got game.
Andrew Miller · September 3, 2015 at 5:41 pm
Lisicki vs. Giorgi must be a great first rounder, probably one of the best 1st rounders of either tour.
Glad Dan you saw Chung. I’d call Chung one of the players that can pass Kyrgios if Kyrgios keeps being distracted by stupid stuff.
Andrew Miller · September 3, 2015 at 5:42 pm
And Lisicki does bomb that serve, while Giorgi plays like she’s on the ATP tour. I like both players a lot.
When it comes to the WTA tour for whatever reasons I like the ultra talented but no slam in the bank players. Giorgi because she plays like Agassi – literally, she plays like Agassi. Lisicki because when she’s playing instinctive tennis it’s the same, as if she’s going on something else out there. Adrenalin junkies!
Scoop Malinowski · September 4, 2015 at 12:37 am
I saw Chung play in Sarasota, the guy is a great player with huge potential, big strong, steady consistent, compact efficient strokes, already has like three coaches always with him — BIG future — BIG FUTURE
Andrew Miller · September 4, 2015 at 12:46 am
That’s what I’m saying – you have a Kyrgios who might feel like he’s the future of the sport, like Tomic did, and all of the sudden the real future of the sport arrives in Chung.
That’s why I say that a guy like Kyrgios might feel like he can trash the older players or get over-confidant – and then they stop practicing or doing the things that make a great player great, and all of the sudden Chung will come along and sneak up on all of them.
Or Coric will keep getting better like Djokovic did. Or Zverev. The sport rewards persistence over brilliance.
Scoop Malinowski · September 4, 2015 at 1:18 am
Another aspect to consider is the young player’s head, where it is, is he a know it all who thinks he knows everything? Or does he listen to the sage wisdom of certain respected elders? Jan Vacek the former ATP pro and current coach of Chiudinelli and Tatsumi Ito was telling me this part is very important in his humble opinion, I think Chung is very mature and has a very good head on his shoulders — he’s doing it the quiet way, while all the others are getting all the hype — amazing performance today by Chung —
Harold · September 4, 2015 at 9:34 am
Poor Hewitt, has not been able to close out sets, or matches for last three years.Great fighter, great player, no knockout punch the last few years.
You only go as far as your second serve, comes back to end Hewitt’s run, and nearly derailed Murray.
Tomic’s career might have been in free fall had he ended up losing that match. Probably would have been useless in DC,two weeks from today, and going forward,so he got lucky. You slap a few balls real hard, win a few points, and the other side gets tight.
Scoop Malinowski · September 4, 2015 at 9:38 am
Certain great older players lose the ability to finish off matches, Hewitt is suffering through this now, as did Michael Chang at the end — still it’s a still a joy and pleasure to watch Hewitt compete on a tennis court, even if he’s half of the Lion he once was —
jg · September 4, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Tomic said Hewitt beats him sixty percent of the practice sets they play, I think Tomic’s injury at the end actually helped him–it may have taken his mind off things. He is an interesting player to watch, he appears to be a pusher but then he comes up with a big shot. I agree if he lost that match it would have set him back, wondering if Hewitt had that in the back of his mind.