[訪問] Indian Wells Semifinal
LLEYTON HEWITT
Q. It comes down to the third set breaker, then halfway through you really
kind of stepped it up and took it from him. Talk about that, and the match
overall.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Any time you play a third-set tiebreaker, it's a lucky door
prize a little bit. You have to go out there, try to get off
to a pretty good start. We were both able to do that.
I just felt like I dictated play, you know, when I needed to;
I hustled when I needed to; I got those extra balls back when
I needed to. You know, under the circumstances I played a
pretty good tiebreak, I think.
The match as it was, he served extremely well. Had a lot of
opportunities to break out there tonight. I think the first
four or five early in the third set, he hit aces on every one
of them. He really didn't give me too many opportunities on
second serves. I don't know what the stats were, but I felt
like on most of his second serves, I was, you know, winning
the majority of the points out there tonight.
So, you know, I was waiting for my opportunities on the big
points, and to his credit he came up with some big serves.
Q. He also talked about your general improvement over all, the last couple
years. When you slipped a little bit, you went back and worked on your
game. Your forehand, serve and volley are better. Do you feel that way,
that you're an improved player from two years ago to now?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think I'm definitely playing a lot
better. I think the game's probably changed. You know, it
always changes. You know, I think especially Roger has taken
it to a new level. That's the motivation to try to stay up in
the top few guys in the world. You know, I felt like with
Roger Rasheed and myself, we worked extremely hard, you know,
especially probably the end of - what is it now - 2003, I
think. Yeah, 2003. I've worked extremely hard to try to get
back in 2004.
I was able to do that. I had probably as consistent a year as
I've ever had last year.
You know, I'm happy with where my game's at right at the
moment. Taking the best players to play their best tennis to
beat me, I think, nearly every week now. That's all I can
really put on the table.
Q. You played well in a lot of big events, reached the finals. How important
is it for you to get over the top and get this title?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, it's always nice to win titles. But, yeah, I'd swap
it for the Aussie Open (smiling).
Yeah, it's big matches. The guys that I've lost to in the last
few finals, obviously Roger has been in most of them, and
Marat in the Aussie Open, you know, they've had to play some
scary tennis to beat me. If I go out there and put myself on
the line every time, then your chances are going to come.
But, you know, I can go out there, in all those matches I've
played good tennis. It's not like I've played poorly. It's
taken a hell of a player to beat me every time.
Q. Talk about Roger a little more. Last year, played him tough a few times.
The last few times, he's gotten you pretty good. What type of tennis are
you going to have to bring to the court? Are you going to have to switch
up a little bit? Is he going to have to be down a little bit? I'm sure you
talked about it with Roger Rasheed a number of times, how you're going to
get over Roger Federer if he's playing at his top level.
LLEYTON HEWITT: He's always going to be a tough player to beat. His serve, he
sets up the points so well for his game. He gets a high
percentage of first serves in and sets it up so he can
dictate play with his forehand. He's a great all-court player.
He's moving exceptionally well the last year and a half, as
well as anyone, I think.
Yeah, you got to try to dictate play as much as possible.
Obviously his backhand, you know, is his weaker wing. But
then again, that's improved out of sight in the last two years,
as well.
I've got to go out there and play my game and try and make him
play a lot of balls. But, you know, it's never going to be
easy against Rog.
Q. Can you talk about the format, best-of-five, after playing best-of-three
the whole way?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's a bit different. Yeah, it's a different from any
time I've made the finals here in the past, it's always been
best-of-three. I'm not sure why it's changed this year.
Q. There's consistency and there's consistency. Guys like Rogers and Andys of
this world, sometime go for a bonehead shot. You never seem to make a bad
decision on the tennis court.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know about that (smiling). Oh, I make a few. Maybe
they're just not quite as obvious as those guys'. But, yeah.
Q. Can you talk about Roger's (Rasheed) impact? He seems to be able to think
outside the box, has an athletic background.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he does -- he's been awesome not only with me on-court,
but off-court thinking, as well, for me. Physically, you know,
we come both from an Australian Rules football background.
That's a lot more of the training we do rather than, you know,
tennis training - or the typical tennis training, I guess,
which I prefer a lot more. I think it suits me a lot more.
But mindset-wise he's put a lot of hours into watching a lot
of the game I think over the last year and a half. He knows
it as well as anyone.
Q. You played Pete Sampras here in some big matches. You prevailed. What are
the similarities in the game between Pete and Roger that you see?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, they're both awesome athletes, I think both of them. You
know, both got great serves. Pete was probably a little bit
bigger serve. But Roger's is more placement for his game.
Different kind of forehands from the back of the court.
Roger's has got a lot more spin, probably a lot heavier,
whereas Pete's is a more flat kind of forehand. Slice
backhand, match and match. Topspin backhand, I'd probably
give the edge to Federer. But both great movers around the
court. I think both of them didn't get enough credit for
their movement.
Q. Andy thinks that he has improved even since Australia. You played him in
the semis. Could you see that tonight? Were there obvious improvements he
made?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know, for three sets in Australia, he played pretty
well. It was only in the fourth set that he sort of fell away
a bit. Up till then, he served big. Couple of tiebreaks in
the second and third set that, you know, he was going for
ridiculous second serves. You know, I was just playing the
percentages once again, waiting for it to fall off.
Here tonight, yeah, he definitely served his first serve a lot
better. But, then again, yeah, it's hard to say because his
strength is still his serve and his big forehand. But then
again, he didn't break my serve once. He broke it once for
the whole match, for three long sets. Depends which area
you're pinpointing.
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