Fitzgerald offers Hewitt support
Fitzgerald offers Hewitt support
14jul03
AUSTRALIA Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald has given out-of-form
Lleyton Hewitt a vote of confidence going into the competitions
semi-final against Switzerland in Melbourne in September.
Fitzgerald said the tie against a Swiss team featuring Wimbledon
champion Roger Federer would bring out the best in Hewitt, whose
recent form slump culminated in his shock first-round loss at Wimbledon.
Hewitt's downward spiral has cost him his world No.1 ranking,
while he has also changed his coach and become embroiled in a
legal battle with men's tennis governing body, the ATP
(Association of Tennis Professionals).
But Fitzgerald said too much was being read into Hewitt's first
round loss to unheralded Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic, citing
the defeat as "unusual".
"He's enough of a professional to bounce back and it was a very
unusual match-up for him," Fitzgerald said.
"It took a guy who was six foot 10 and serving like a genius to
beat him.
"Also the [Wimbledon centre] court is very green on the first day
and it turned into a different game.
"If he won that game, he would have done very, very well at
Wimbledon because he was hitting the ball so well."
Hewitt has not played since Wimbledon and is due to return to
action in the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles on July 28 before
the US Open next month and the Davis Cup semi-final.
Federer remains the man the Australians fear most coming into
the September 19-21 tie at Melbourne Park, which will be played
on the Rebound Ace surface.
Fitzgerald rates the world No.3 potentially one of the game's greats.
"Now that he's broken through for his first grand slam he'll be
very hard to stop from here.
"It's a difficult ask to beat him, but form's a funny thing -
it comes and goes.
"I hope by September our guys are peaking and Roger's not."
Fitzgerald also believes Mark Philippoussis, whom Federer beat
in the Wimbledon final, will have something to prove when the
two meet in the Davis Cup singles in front of the Australian's
home crowd.
"Mark has never played Davis Cup in his home town before and he
was talking a lot about it - even at Wimbledon when his mind was
on other matters."
Single session tickets for the semi-final went on sale today.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
◆ From: 61.217.180.205
推
推218.167.199.146 07/14, , 1F
推218.167.199.146 07/14, 1F
Hewitt 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
