Hewitt Returns to Form at Wimbledon

By Mike McIntyre

2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt is displaying strong grass-court form as he knocked off number five seed Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the third round.

"Oh, it was a big win. I wanted to beat a top‑five guy," Hewitt stated after the match. "These are the places you want to do it, too."

Despite practicing together on numerous occasions, it was the first career meeting between the two and Hewitt used his experience to knock off the twenty year old Argentine who falls to 3-3 in his career at the All England Club.

Speaking about Del Potro's inexperience on grass, Hewitt said, "Yeah, he's an exceptional player, he's a very talented player, but he's still a little bit raw. I had to try and take advantage of that as much as possible."

Del Potro rated his own play as an 8/10 which may sound surprising given his straight sets loss, but he gave much credit to Hewitt's play after the match.

With a wide open top section of the draw, Hewitt should be able to advance to the quarter-finals where he will likely face American Andy Roddick. The absence of world number one Rafael Nadal has certainly provided a nice opportunity to advance deep into a Grand Slam for the first time in years for Hewitt. He last advanced to a Grand Slam quarter-final at the U.S Open in 2006.

Hewitt Press Conference Transcript

Del Potro Press Conference Transcript

Hewitt Taking His Time Choosing a New Coach

From The Herald Sun: Hewitt keeps options open

LLEYTON Hewitt hasn't ruled out hiring an overseas coach to help guide him back to the top.

Hewitt said it was important a new coach understood his needs, with nationality of secondary concern.

"I'm looking for the best person who suits me," he said.

"Australia is so far from the rest of the world and I prefer to live in Australia when I'm not playing."

Draper Won't Coach Hewitt

From the AAP: Golf first as Draper says no to Hewitt

LLEYTON Hewitt is in the market for yet another coach after Scott Draper's decision to pursue his golf career...

The former Davis Cup star said he had made the choice following lengthy discussions with his pregnant wife Jessica and Hewitt.

"I had a long chat on the phone with Lleyton and let him know that I'd decided to go with golf," said Draper.

Hewitt Gone

I wonder if Fernando Gonzalez is finally ready to do some serious Grand Slam damage.

From The Sydney Morning Herald: Hewitt crashes out to Gonzalez

A BAD day just got worse. This was already the most troubled Australian Open of recent years, blighted by excesses of heat, rain and crowd conduct. Last night on a subdued Rod Laver arena, the last two Australians, old favourites Lleyton Hewitt and Alicia Molik, were unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament...

Hewitt Takes Five to Win

From The Herald Sun: Lleyton Hewitt keeps dream alive

LION-HEARTED Lleyton Hewitt clawed his way back from two sets down for only the third time in his career to keep his Australian Open dream alive at Melbourne Park last night.

Trailing by a service break early in the third set, match-starved Hewitt stood on the brink of an inglorious first-round defeat before rallying doggedly to a 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 triumph over American qualifier Michael Russell...

Woodbridge Says Hewitt Needs to Become an Adult

From The Australian: It's time Lleyton 'became an adult'

WHEN Lleyton Hewitt walks onto Rod Laver Arena tonight to begin his campaign against American Michael Russell, he will have a new coach in his corner, a new manager on his payroll and unprecedented criticism from a celebrated, Davis Cup team-mate ringing in his ears.

In a remarkably candid interview on Melbourne radio on the opening morning of this year's tournament, Todd Woodbridge yesterday urged Hewitt to become an adult, distance his father Glynn from his tennis affairs and start making the important decisions in his professional life that will decide whether he can again challenge the world's best players at major tournaments...

No chance for Lleyton?

Some interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes in this one.

From The Sydney Morning Herald: No coach, no serve, no matches...Lleyton's no hope

LLEYTON Hewitt is gone. Forget about him winning the Australian Open; he'll be lucky to make the second week. Having a big heart gets you only so far. Look at Nicole Pratt...

Fact: he hasn't played enough. The world No.19 is so starved of match play he's lost the crucial knack of running on automatic when he's under the pump. You can't brush the tour for most of the year, turn up to a major and expect to win it.

Hewitt Says He Won't Change

Lleyton Hewitt manages to blame former coach Roger Rasheed for his "stale" tennis game.  He sounds bitter, but I can't blame him.  The way Rasheed quit was awfully humiliating for Hewitt.  (Then again - maybe he deserved it.)

From The Herald Sun: Lleyton won't change

LLEYTON Hewitt has vowed not to temper his ferocious on-court personality despite the shock resignation of coach Roger Rasheed.

Although disappointed at Rasheed's exit after a heated spat in Adelaide last week, Hewitt said he would remain as combative as ever.

"If I feel like I need to fire myself up, get fired up and 'C'mon', (I will)," Hewitt said yesterday.

"Everyone's had go's at me over the years, but I didn't hear anyone having go's when I made the Australian Open final two years ago here."

Hewitt Tough on Coaches

From The Age: More than the job's worth

THE one thing Darren Cahill, Jason Stoltenberg and Roger Rasheed have in common is that, as former coaches of Lleyton Hewitt, they have all jumped without being pushed. Each found it impossible to work in such a poisonous environment, or tolerate the on-court abuse any longer. Or both...

Why Lleyton Hewitt's Coach Quit

From The Herald Sun: Hewitt abuse the final straw

AN expletive-laden tirade from Lleyton Hewitt was the catalyst for coach Roger Rasheed to sever ties with the fiery tennis ace.

The final straw for Rasheed came after Hewitt allegedly told his coach of three years to "f--- off" and "shut up" throughout his match against Russian Igor Kunitsyn on Thursday night...