US OPEN

August 28, 2003

Lleyton Hewitt

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. I knew he was a talented player. I actually watched him on the TV a little bit when he won Sydney earlier in the year. Yeah, he's a shot-maker. He plays very flashy. He's a great mover. He hits the ball very flat out there. Felt like actually the better I played, the better he played. I think, you know, the standard sort of showed. You know, the best game of the match was obviously the last game. I would have liked to have went out a little bit easier. But, you know, still happy to get through.

LLEYTON HEWITT: The opponent was a lot tougher today. You know, he's had big wins. As I said, he beat Ferrero in Sydney, Roddick. He's beaten a lot of tough players. I didn't take him lightly at all. You know, I just didn't feel like I was probably as aggressive at the start, and that's probably where I changed the match around in the second set.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It was a tough match. Yeah, even in the first set, I was down a break twice and I had to fight back from it. You know, in the end, 5-All, he hit sort of a shank dropshot. Then he played a good game to break me at 6-5. Yeah, it was tough tennis. I felt like when I stepped it up, you know, took the initiative a little bit more, you know, I played some of my best tennis in the second and third sets. In the fourth, he started serving a lot better.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I played some good matches. In LA, I played pretty well the whole tournament, I felt. Against Ferreira, I didn't play my best tennis, but still a point away from winning. Where did I go then? Montreal, played great against Bob Bryan the first round. Second round against Mirnyi, one of those matches where he served big, I lost five in the third. I lost five in the third to Ferreira the week before, five in the third to Mirnyi. Went to Cincinnati, didn't play a great match against Malisse.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, you walk into this place, it's not like walking into Cincinnati or Montreal. This is a Grand Slam. You know, this is what you play for. This is what tennis is all about. Yeah, not many people will remember what happened in Montreal or Cincinnati if you go out and win this tournament. I walked into the place, trained as hard as possible the last week and a half since I lost in Cincinnati. You know, I felt like I've given myself every opportunity of playing well here, whether it happens or not. I've started well enough, got to keep going.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I practiced one day with him.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, obviously I hit with Flip down in Florida for a few days down there, then came here. The guys I pretty much hit with, Federer, Flip. That's about it pretty much. You know, but they're two classy guys. Henman, as well. It wasn't like I was hitting against the best players. I felt like I was grinding, getting my game going coming in here anyway.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. I didn't serve great today. I felt like my ball toss was all over the shop today. It's an area that, yeah, I want to work on. Then again, you're sort of between a rock and a hard place a little bit. You go for it. A guy my size, you either can kick it in, get the point started, get a high percentage in, or you can go for it and try to get a lot of cheap points. You're going to have a lower percentage. There's some matches I feel I served great in the past. When I won here two years ago, towards the end of the tournament, I probably served as well as I ever served, even at Wimbledon last year. I do have times where I feel like my motion is good. Right at the moment, I don't feel that comfortable with it. But I'm getting through matches. If that comes together, I feel like I'm playing pretty well.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'll do it depending on how I'm feeling, how the match probably starts a little bit. Yeah, Andre is probably one in a million, return of serve, as well. If you got to play him, it's going to be tough no matter how well you're serving - I think for anyone. At the time, you play with instinct once you get out there.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. I've picked it up before. It just doesn't feel right to me, picking it up. You know, I think for what I'd get out of maybe helping my serve, I'd probably lose in -- you know, I think it would probably take a while to change, if you were going to change to something like that. I don't know how easy -- when you sort of hold it, volleying with a longer racquet, it feels a bit weird. It feels like it gets in the way. It feels a lot more than an inch, inch and a half longer.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. For sure, I think for anyone. It's hot enough out there, you want to get back in the locker room as soon as possible. Especially when I played a good game to break, to finally break at 4-All, to come out. Yeah, I felt like I played a pretty good game, yet I wasn't in the locker room. He really stepped it up. As I said before, the better I played, the better he ended up playing. You know, he took it to me. I just had to hang tough there. Obviously, I came up with a huge backhand up the line on one of the breakpoints.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really (smiling). You know, I still feel like I've got all the weapons and all the strengths that I had back then. You know, right at the moment, I just feel like I'm not quite peaking at the moment. I think one match can turn that all around.

LLEYTON HEWITT: No. I don't think too many guys would have gone for the backhand up the line on breakpoint today.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, it's pretty important to get through any early rounds of Grand Slams. You know, I know that as well as anyone after Wimbledon. You know, for me to keep fighting, obviously you could have got down a little bit on yourself, after losing the first set and having chances. I had to put my head down and grind back. In the end, I'm happy to come through this one. I can't look too far forward, though.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, I think there are times like that, yeah. I feel like I'm hitting the ball as well as I've ever hit it in practice. I just got to try and take that over to the match court. Yeah, tennis is such a funny game. I felt like I've had a lot of breakpoints; even today I had a lot of breakpoints, didn't quite capitalize on them. I think probably in the couple years before that, I probably made a lot more of those chances. That's something that you can work on, to a certain extent, but there's still a little bit of luck involved, I guess, seeing whether the guy makes a big first serve on a breakpoint or not.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, well, I think if I get towards the quarters or the semis, that's probably when I'm at my most dangerous. You know, I know what you got to do to win slams. I think if -- I've always said, even with my game, I guess, is my personality to a certain extent, if I can get through the first couple of rounds, sometimes they're the toughest. If I can get through this one, obviously get myself into the second week, hit the ball, have that confidence going, I've been in that situation before.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it hasn't done much positive. I think at the end of the day, you just got to look at how many tournaments he's had to play. Yeah, in my opinion, he's one of the best players around when he's on. He has the perfect physique for tennis; I think, he's got every shot in the game. It's disappointing that he's hardly been able to play since the Aussie Open basically. You know, the game needs a guy like that around. He's a great personality for the game of tennis. I think at the end of the day, you look at how many matches he had to play last year. You know, I lost to him in the Paris final, he played incredible tennis, had to fly straight off to Shanghai, he plays in the Masters Cup, has to fly back to Paris to play in the Davis Cup final on a totally different surface. That takes a lot out of you, both physically and mentally. For a guy like him, it's disappointing. I think there's got to be a way that the ATP or the ITF or everyone has to sit down and work it out and get the schedule. I think the reason I got the chickenpox at the end of 2001 was because I was run down from playing so many matches and a Davis Cup final.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's an incredible effort. What comes with being No. 1, for me it was just a dream to grow up and be No. 1 for a week. For her to hold No. 1, it's something no one can ever take away from you. I know both of us, when we were growing up, our dream, our goal, was to one day be No. 1. There's not too many couples that can say they've both been No. 1.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's more for a Davis Cup point of view, I think, as well. He's been out scouting a lot of -- obviously watching Roger play a fair bit. He's going to be the main guy in the Davis Cup tie coming up. You know, he wants to get a feel, I think, of little things that he can say on the court - positive reminders and stuff like that that he can say to both Flip and I that are going to trigger something when we're out there. I think it's great that Wally and Fitzy are both here. I know that both Flip and I are pleased to have them around. We enjoy their company. I think we both enjoy -- the more support we have from the Davis Cup guys, the better.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I haven't really seen him actually. Haven't spoken to him. Haven't seen him. I haven't played in any tournaments until here where he's at.

LLEYTON HEWITT: They're both weird kind of players a little bit. Stepanek, he's had a great couple of years. I played him in the Aussie Open I think in the third round. He started really well, sort of lost his way halfway through the first set. I was able to get confident and play some of my best tennis in that match. He returns extremely well. He moves very well. He has an all-court game. He mixes a lot. Hasn't got the biggest serve, but it's a very effective serve. He likes coming in and playing with a bit of bluff, as well. Santoro, we all know he's a different kind of player. You got to go out there, though, and back yourself, you know, take your A game. If you're a little bit off, these guys can make you look silly out there. I've got to go out there and stay aggressive and play my game.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, they're both -- obviously, Grand Slams and Davis Cup, it's very hard to separate them.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'd love to win the Davis Cup. It's probably sitting number one at the moment. Haven't won it for a few years, so...

LLEYTON HEWITT: If we win the Davis Cup, I'll be happy. You know, if I can do well here, it's a bonus, as well. Obviously, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, though.