Taylor Dent:<\/strong> \u201cI saw him in the juniors. We grew up playing in the juniors. My first memory is kind of out of nowhere. He was always a good junior player but out of nowhere he got a wildcard into Adelaide and he ended up winning the thing. And he beat a lot of good players on the way to the title. It just blew my mind.\u201d Describe what it was like to play him? \u201cIt was tough for me. It was a disaster of a match up. I played him a lot of times. I only ever got him once. Actually in his hometown of Adelaide. And he was just tough. I liked attacking. And he was very accurate with his shots. He was able to dip it down at my feet. When I came to the net, he was able to lob it over my head. It posed a lot of problems for my style of game.\u201d You must have played extremely well the day you beat him? \u201cYou know what? It\u2019s interesting. The courts were quick and I kind of changed the tactics a little bit. I ended up staying back at the baseline and just kind of chipping and waiting for a golden opportunity to come in. And he was a little bit off. He didn\u2019t pass quite as well as normal. And that\u2019s kind of the way how it goes.\u201d Do you have a memory or anecdote that captures Hewitt\u2019s essence, on or off court? \u201cOff court, for me, he was always great. There was the stage when I was \u2013 I was getting good enough coming up to where I was being considered for Davis Cup. And so obviously with my background \u2013 my dad\u2019s Australian \u2013 he gave me a call up to try and lobby for me to come play for the Australian team. And he was very nice on the phone and that\u2019s kind of how he was. A good guy, a straight-forward guy. He doesn\u2019t really beat-around-the-bush too much and I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\nHewitt leads series 5-1<\/p>\n
2001 – Wimbledon – R64 – Hewitt: 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3
\n2001 – Indianapolis – R32 – Hewitt: 6-2, 7-6(3)
\n2003 – Scottsdale – S – Hewitt: 6-2, 6-4
\n2005 – Adelaide – Q – Dent: 7-6(4), 6-3
\n2005 – Wimbledon – R16 – Hewitt: 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3
\n2005 – US Open – R32 – Hewitt: 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-5<\/p>\n
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\u201cI expected to steamroll the kid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nVince Spadea:<\/strong> \u201cI played against Hewitt in the 1998 quarters at Adelaide, his hometown in the south of Australia, when he was a sixteen year old wildcard. Everyone was wondering how he got a wildcard in the first place, because he was like No. 500 in the world at the time and nobody had ever heard of him. Some of the other Australian players were mystified. He had just played a Satellite, which is an even lower pro tournament than a Challenger, that has since been mostly phased out in favor of Futures, the week before Adelaide, and he had lost to a nobody. Our match was a night match, center court. I see this little guy with long blond hair who looks like a surfer, walk out on the court. I figure: \u2018I\u2019m in the semis. This kid is sixteen and he looked weak, inexperienced, unrehearsed, and unpolished.\u2019\u201d \u201cThe match begins and he\u2019s holding his own. He keeps on hitting balls in the court. I wasn\u2019t playing strongly enough or consistently enough to overpower him even though I\u2019ve got him outweighed by about forty pounds. I end up losing the first set 7-5. Now I\u2019m thinking: \u2018What does this kid think he\u2019s doing?\u2019 He didn\u2019t miss one shot long the entire set. My dad, who was coaching me, said after the match, \u2018He missed into the net and he missed wide but he never missed past the baseline.\u2019 Whenever Hewitt won a big point he screeched out, \u2018COME ON\u2019 and punched the air with his fist. I thought that was a little annoying and cocky of him but I didn\u2019t let it bother or intimidate me. I won the second set 6-3. I had been working with Jim Pierce (coach and father of Mary Pierce), so I was in great shape. I had been killing myself in training. I expected to steamroll the kid in the third set. But instead, he put his game into another gear and beat me soundly 6-1 to win the match.\u201d \u201cThe next day I was sitting eating breakfast with my dad in the player\u2019s cafeteria and Brad Gilbert, coach of Andre Agassi, walked up to us and completely ignored me. He approached my dad and said, \u2018Your son had Hewitt last night but he choked. Andre will show you how to handle the kid tonight.\u2019\u201d \u201cOf course, Hewitt straight-setted Agassi 76 76 and then went on to win the tournament. Hewitt has gone on to win almost twenty million in his career, along with a Wimbledon and U.S. Open title. He\u2019s a true warrior on the court. He doesn\u2019t get fazed by disappointment or failure. He doesn\u2019t worry about if he\u2019s hitting the ball great or if he\u2019s winning or losing, he just enjoys the battle. The only other player who battled as successfully as Hewitt was Jimmy Connors. Hewitt will never give up and he doesn\u2019t mind if he has to win hard or easy. He\u2019s one of the greatest competitors in tennis.\u201d<\/p>\nHewitt leads series 7-0<\/p>\n
1998 – Adelaide – Q – Hewitt: 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
\n1999 – Lyon – S – Hewitt: 6-3, 6-3
\n2003 – ATP Masters Series Indian Wells – S – Hewitt: 7-6(5), 6-1
\n2006 – Sydney – R32 – Hewitt: 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
\n2006 – San Jose – S – Hewitt: 6-3, 6-4
\n2006 – Washington – R32 – Hewitt: 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-4
\n2007 – Las Vegas – RR – Hewitt: 6-3, 6-3<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe was a lion on the court.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nDavide Sanguinetti:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cI played him when he was No. 1 in the world. He was the best. I remember once in Cincinnati and I retired. Because my daughter was gonna be born so I had to leave. So I found an excuse and I run away with it. But I don\u2019t think I had a chance with him that day [smiles].\u201d What was it like to play Hewitt at his best (in previous round of Cincinnati match with Sanguinetti, Hewitt beat Robby Ginepri 6-0 6-0)? \u201cI think it was tough to make a point because he was such a fighter on the court, which he still is, but before he could run a little faster than now. And to make a point you had to sweat because of the pain. He was all around. You cannot say he had like unbelievable forehand, backhand, but he was an all around player. That he put all his heart out on the court. He was a lion on the court.\u201d<\/p>\nHewitt leads series 2-0<\/p>\n
2001 – \u2018S-Hertogenbosch – R32 – Hewitt: 6-2, 6-1
\n2002 – Cincinnati Masters – R32 – Hewitt: 5-0 (Ret.)<\/p>\n
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\u201cTurning point in tennis history.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nIvan Ljubicic: <\/strong> \u201cWhen I played Hewitt he had just won Wimbledon. He was at the top of his game. I remember that I qualified and I think it was quarterfinals so for me it was a great week anyway. And it was 7-6 6-7 and he ended up winning 6-4. I was 5-1 down and I came back to 5-4 and he won it. But it\u2019s incredible that we played only once and we were around together on the Tour maybe fifteen years. And not ever close \u2013 I can\u2019t remember like even being close to playing him. So it\u2019s unbelievable. But obviously he is a great fighter and I think the way he managed his career \u2013 we would love that he played more. For so many years after U.S. Open he would take a break and prepare for Australian Open. I feel like, with all the injuries that he had, and he had many, the type of game that he played, he managed his tennis incredibly well. To be able to be still on the Tour at 33 and still fighting and playing at this level.\u201d Did anything surprise you about him? \u201cNo, not really. The thing is that he\u2019s an unbelievable fighter. But what I say \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s only saying \u2018COME ON\u2019 \u2013 he finds the way to win matches. He\u2019s always very, very difficult to play. Obviously, with now, it\u2019s different than it was ten years ago. But to win Wimbledon, to win U.S. Open with the game that he had, back then, it was a turning point in the history of tennis. Because he was the first one really to win Wimbledon from the baseline, like playing this way, not like Agassi, because he was still hitting the balls. He was the first one to really, like, demolish Sampras\u2019 serve in the final of U.S. Open. So he is, let\u2019s say, the first one of this new generation of really, really solid players.\u201d Did you get along well with Hewitt off court? Ever practice together? \u201cWe practiced a few times. He\u2019s really shy, actually, you know, incredibly. Off the court he\u2019s kind of calm, doesn\u2019t really talk to anybody, really shy.\u00a0 We obviously, being of similar age, we got along because we spent so much time together on the Tour. So I like him a lot, actually.\u201d<\/p>\nHewitt leads series 1-0<\/p>\n
2001 – Cincinnati Masters – QF – Hewitt: 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-4<\/p>\n
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s an excerpt from my book \u201cFacing Hewitt\u201d which is now available at Amazon.com. \u201cIt just blew my mind.\u201d Taylor Dent: \u201cI saw him in the juniors. We grew up playing in the juniors. My first memory is kind of out of nowhere. He was always a good junior player but out of nowhere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[149,392],"class_list":["post-7127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scoop","tag-lleyton-hewitt","tag-scoop-malinowski"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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