Hewitt Turns Back Time

A force to be reckoned with until mid 2000s, Lleyton Hewitt's late career has been plagued by injuries. After he lost his reign to Swiss Roger Federer, the Australian has been struggling to keep up with the new generation, but had to settle with seeing Federer, Nadal, and later Djokovic, get their hands on all the big prizes. With a neverending list of injuries and a lack of form, Lleyton was forced to keep a low profile. Although he was fighting to get back to winning ways, his efforts were cut short everytime, as he constantly picked up new problems to deal with. Under these circumstances, he had to dramatically reduce his schedule, making appearances to only a handful of tournaments per season. Because of this he became a sporadic presence on the ATP tour and, soon, discussions about a possible retirement began to stir up.

He slammed the rumours at the start of this year by making another comeback attempt. Nevertheless, the beginning was not promising, as he failed to make an impression at either the Hopman Cup in Perth, where he teamed up with Jarmila Gajdosova, or in Sydney, where he lost in the inaugural round to Serbian Viktor Troicki. Therefore, at the inception of the Australian Open, the currently ranked 181 Aussie was not destined to go very far. His rustiness shown in the first round, were he dug deep to defeat German young hope Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, rearing off five consecutive games in the fourth set to seal the victory. In his next match, facing his old time rival Andy Roddick, Lleyton got extremely lucky when the American had to withdrawn while being down one set to two. Qualified for yet another third round showing in Melbourne, he went on to meet one of the hottest players in the draw, Canadian Milos Raonic, who was expected to book his place in the last 16th for the second year running. After a slow start which saw the 23rd favourite win the first act 6-4, the Australian managed to recapture some vintage form, neutralizing his opponent's biggest weapon, i.e. his serve. Deposed of his main asset, Milos' whole game crumbled. Lacking any obvious strength, Lleyton did what he does best. With a very efficient display he minimized the number of unforced errors, pressuring his opponent into going after the big shots. The move proved successful, as Milos missed, leaving a delighted nation witness their hero complete a sensational 4-6,6-3,7-6,6-3 triumph.

As impressive as his run might have been so far, the fairytale is assumed to end pretty soon. Hewitt will next tackle Novak Djokovic, a player to whom he lost the last four times they met.

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