I'll be No. 1 again: Hewitt

看板Hewitt作者LleyHewitt (想養一隻可愛的澳洲袋鼠~)時間21年前 (2003/11/20 22:18)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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I'll be No. 1 again: Hewitt By Linda Pearce November 20, 2003 Lleyton Hewitt believes he is capable of regaining the world No. 1 ranking and emerging from the shadows of a troubled tournament year when his self-imposed tennis exile ends at next week's Davis Cup final against Spain at Melbourne Park. While peers such as Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero have all won major titles this season and are widely being hailed as the future of the sport, Hewitt has tumbled from first to 18th in the past 12 months. Parallels have even been drawn with Martina Hingis, the retired Swiss who won all five of her grand slam titles before her 19th birthday, and was then overwhelmed by the more powerful forces in the women's game. Hewitt's slide has been a combination of disappointing grand slam results and his willingness to enter just 12 official ATP tournaments in 2003. His only match play since losing his US Open quarter-final to Ferrero in early September was at the Davis Cup tie against Switzerland later that month. Indeed, the former US Open and Wimbledon champion has insisted all year that Davis Cup has been his priority, and he has prepared for the final with almost fanatical zeal - on the court and in the gym, both in Melbourne and at home in Adelaide, on Rebound Ace and on grass, with his personal coach Roger Rasheed, and now the full Australian team. "At the moment I'm playing as well as I've ever played, so I think the way that I beat Federer in the Davis Cup semi-final there's no doubt that gives me confidence that I can get No. 1 back," Hewitt said yesterday. "I have no doubt that I can beat anyone in the world on any given day, and it's just got to, I guess, all come together . . . As soon as the Davis Cup final is over, and hopefully we've won, then the next thought's going to be trying to prepare myself as well as possible for the Australian Open." I have no doubt that I can beat anyone in the world on any given day, and it's just got to, I guess, all come together. LLEYTON HEWITT Hewitt has never passed the fourth round at the national championship, but his eggs, as he likes to say, have all been placed in Australia's brimming Davis Cup basket. He hit for several hours in the heat at Kooyong yesterday, first with Mark Philippoussis, and the fist-pumps and trademark self-exhortations during his practice sets against youngster Todd Reid were proof of a desire to win that insiders say has never been so fierce, or intense. The challenge now is to make sure the 22-year-old is not over-cooked during the remaining eight days of practice before the tie begins tomorrow week. "I'll start tapering off before then," Hewitt said. "All the hard yards have probably been put in before these next couple of weeks anyway. If the tie was the next few days I'd be ready to go, so now I'll just try to continue that form and that preparation leading in. I'll be raring to go when the bell rings, Friday week." Australian coach Wally Masur joked that one of the few ways to hold Hewitt back was to redirect him to the golf course, but also said the Australians did not fear the possibility of their singles No. 2 peaking too soon. "The ball is just coming off the racquet so sweetly; if we had to play this match in two or three days' time, Lleyton's ready," Masur said. "That's fine, it's good. That's why a team environment's good, because he'll play some doubles and do things leading up to this match that he wouldn't do leading up to a grand slam, for example. That's what keeps it fresh; there's a different thing happening every day." Hewitt said what he may lack in match practice would be balanced by the Spaniards' much shorter lead-in time on grass, their least-preferred surface, and warned of the perils of facing the Philippoussis serve if the bounce on the portable turf at Rod Laver Arena is anywhere near as uneven as it was in the 2001 final against France. Nor could Hewitt resist a jab back at his bogyman Carlos Moya, who questioned the Australian's decision not to play a tournament match in almost two months. Claiming to be unbothered by Moya's remarks, Hewitt aluded to speculation that Feliciano Lopez is being considered as Ferrero's singles support when he quipped: "We don't even know if (Moya's) playing yet." -- ◢▋▋▆▁▅██◣ ■■■■■□□■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ◢█▋▋██████◣ ■□□■■□□■■□□□■□□□□■□■□□□ ▋▋█████ ■□□■■□□■■■■■■■■■□■□■■■□ ▋▋█████ ■■■■■□□■□□□■□□□■□■□■□□□ ▋▋█████ ■□□■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 218.175.237.149