[情報] Singles life not easy for Hewitt and …

看板Hewitt作者zerkchu (lin)時間21年前 (2003/09/11 16:24)推噓1(1推 0噓 0→)

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※ [本文轉錄自 NED-BEL-LUX 看板] 作者: zerkchu (lin) 看板: NED-BEL-LUX 標題: [情報] Singles life not easy for Hewitt and Clijsters 時間: Thu Sep 11 16:23:32 2003 Wednesday September 10, 09:21 PM Singles life not easy for Hewitt and Clijsters By Robert Woodward LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Where singles is concerned, it has been a harrowing few months for Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters. But the most famous couple in tennis could find redemption in the sport's top team competitions, the Davis and Fed Cups. World number one at the turn of the year, Hewitt has dropped to seventh in the rankings and he desperately hopes to salvage something from the wreckage of 2003 in the Davis Cup. Hewitt leads Australia in the semi-final against Switzerland, led by Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, next week in Melbourne. November's Fed Cup semi-final between the U.S. and Belgium in Moscow could be one of the great sporting showdowns of the year if both teams turn up at full strength. Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne have taken Belgium to the top of the tennis rankings, usurping the Williams sisters, and won the cup in 2001. Venus and Serena helped the U.S. thrash the Czech Republic 5-0 in the Fed Cup first round but left the quarter-final against Italy in July to their understudies, who also won 5-0. Both sisters missed this month's U.S. Open due to injury, leaving the way open for Henin-Hardenne to win her second grand slam title of the year. As at the French Open, Henin-Hardenne beat Clijsters in the final, leaving Clijsters as the world number one in name only -- she has yet to win a grand slam and Serena, who beat her in the Australian Open semi-final from 5-1 down in the final set, is still the primary force in women's tennis. Belgium thrashed the reigning Fed Cup champions, Slovakia, in their Fed Cup quarter-final so the Belgians v the Williams over four singles matches and a doubles in Moscow would be a tennis clash of seismic proportions. QUESTION MARKS But there are a number of question marks over the tie -- will the players be willing to travel to Moscow in mid-November, will the Williams sisters be fit and will the Belgian duo be prepared to bury their personal differences to play as a team? The two come from either side of the linguistic and cultural divide in Belgium and Clijsters and her camp have been sniping at Henin-Hardenne for months, accusing her of a lack of sportsmanship among other things. Clijsters, regarded as one of the nicest women on tour, appears to lack Henin-Hardenne's grit and determination when the going gets really tough. Her father's insinuation this week that something untoward lies behind Henin-Hardenne's rise is likely to poison the atmosphere even more between the world number one and two. Unlike Clijsters, Hewitt's form has been in steady decline since he won Indian Wells in March. A third round defeat in the French Open was followed by his shattering first round loss to Croatian Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon. He reached the quarter-finals at the U.S. Open where he lost to French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, who leads Spain in the other Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina in Malaga, and the Australian also injured his left hip. Hewitt is determined to make amends for the shattering defeat by France in the 2001 Cup final in Melbourne when he lost the opening singles to Nicolas Escude and the doubles with Pat Rafter. "The Davis Cup is probably sitting at number one (in my priorities) at the moment," Hewitt said before his Open defeat. "We haven't won it for a few years so I'd love to win it this year." -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw) ◆ From: 203.219.101.22 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw) ◆ From: 203.219.101.22