[情報] Hewitt plans hectic summer
Hewitt plans hectic summer
Tuesday October 7, 05:20 PM
A resurgent Lleyton Hewitt is set to increase his workload in 2004 after booking a hectic tennis program this summer.
The former US Open and Wimbledon champion will play at the Hopman Cup (January 3-10) and adidas International (January 11-17) before the Australian Open starts on January 19.
Hewitt decided on a lighter playing schedule in 2003 following two gruelling years in which he finished end-of-season world No.1.
The fiery baseliner opted last year to use the mixed teams event in Perth as his only warm-up event for the opening grand slam of the year, in which he was knocked out in the fourth round.
And despite concentrating more on the grand slam events this season, Hewitt failed to win one of the big four titles this year for the first time since 2000.
But the world No.8's epic victory over Swiss star Roger Federer in the Davis Cup semi-final in Melbourne last month has the Hewitt camp confident he can again challenge for the world No.1 crown.
Hopman Cup tournament director Paul McNamee thought the South Australian was set for a much busier schedule next year after a below-par 2003.
"He made a conscious decision in `03 to back off his schedule, and it appears that in `04 he is making a conscious decision to ramp up his schedule," he said.
"I think that is a fairly safe assumption you can take from that, so he certainly means business."
Alicia Molik will partner Hewitt in the No.2 ranked Australian team for the third straight year after losing last summer's final to the United States pairing of Serena Williams and James Blake.
The management of the younger Williams sister has indicated she will play in the event despite the trauma of her sister being murdered in Los Angeles last month.
"You don't know what is going to happen and you don't want a situation like Monica Seles where she was lost to the sport for way too long," McNamee said.
"I think it is reassuring for the sport that Serena is committing to this tournament."
Blake returns for the top ranked pairing while No.3 Belgium will be headed by world No.1 Kim Clijsters and Xavier Malisse.
The mercurial Marat Safin and rising star Anastasia Myskina will play for Russia while Amelie Mauresmo will lead the French charge.
The Slovak Republic (Daniela Hantuchova/Karol Kucera) and Czech Republic (Barboro Strycova/Jiri Novak) return while Canada (Maureen Drake/Frank Dancevic) and Hungary (Petra Mandula/Attila Savolt) play off for the final spot in the draw.
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