Hewitt shakes off clay woes
Hewitt shakes off clay woes
Friday 23 May 2003, 10:30 AM
The Age
Lleyton Hewitt got one monkey off his back when he beat his clay court
tennis bogeyman Carlos Moya on a miserable German spring day.
But it will take seven more wins for the world No.1 and dual Grand Slam
winner to break one of Australia tennis's longest running droughts -- the
French Open.
Hewitt, 22, took a huge step towards becoming the first Australian since
Rod Laver in 1969 to win the French Open when he overcame world No.4 Moya
6-2 3-6 6-3 on an otherwise losing day for Australia at the World Team Cup
.
It was the first time he'd beaten the Spaniard since Monte Carlo more than
a year ago and the first time in four matches that he'd won a set against
Moya.
Hewitt may be the top seed at Roland Garros -- but until Thursday few had
been tipping him to achieve at the tournament where his best performance
to date is the quarter-finals two years ago.
His gutsy win over Moya, who won the French title five years ago, led
American James Blake, who lost to both Hewitt and Moya during this week's
round robin series, to declare him a contender.
"Can he get more confidence?" Blake said.
"The one surface he might not have confidence on is clay, and to beat one
of the premier clay court players right before the French Open is going
to help him.
"Lleyton is the top seed, but a lot of people weren't looking at him as
one of the favourites.
"They're looking at Moya, Ferrero, etc -- guys that have grown up on clay
-- but now Hewitt's proven that he is a force on any surface.
"And he's going to be for a long time to come."
But defending champion Albert Costa has cast doubt on Hewitt's clay court
ambitions and Moya also queried the Australian's credentials on the slow,
dusty surface.
"If I have to give three names that are going to win the French Open, I do
n't think he would be in that list," Moya said, before defining his three
as "the Spanish, the South Americans, maybe (Andre) Agassi, (Roger) Feder
er".
"But still, he's going to be very dangerous and if he can get to the
quarters, he's going to have his chance.
"But he hasn't played many matches on clay this year," Moya said.
Hewitt was typically reluctant to declare himself favourite but did
acknowledge "a nice little confidence booster" from beating one of the
world's best clay court champions three days before the only Grand Slam
played on clay started.
After deciding last September to cut his schedule back this year to
concentrate on Grand Slams and the Davis Cup, he said he had no regrets
about missing the Barcelona, Rome and Monte Carlo tournaments, despite the
clay court practice they would have given him.
"I just felt like after the Davis Cup (quarter-final win against Sweden in
Malmo last month) I needed a break.
"I went home and couldn't be bothered coming over, really," Hewitt said of
the European warm-ups.
"I'd rather go and watch footy for a few weeks. To me, I've got to be more
mentally fit than anything for the Grand Slams. I've had the rest. My
gam e is going to be more or less there when I call upon it."
Hewitt says he "couldn't care less" about being favourite for Roland
Garros or about stopping Moya's four-match winning streak against him.
"It was a good confidence booster for me, to know that I can match up with
these guys a few days before the Slam starts," Hewitt said.
"If I'd lost first round last week (in Hamburg), I would have said that I
don't have enough match practice.
"But now I've probably got a fair amount of matches under my belt, more
than I could have asked for.
"Yes, I feel that I've got better. I also don't feel that I'm getting
tired.
"Sometimes when you get on clay, you can struggle your first couple of
weeks. But I feel good.:)"
--
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