WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2000

Lleyton Hewitt

MODERATOR: Lleyton Hewitt.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I just had one of those days really. I struggled off the ground the whole day. The court I found very slippery out there. It didn't suit my game at all today. You know, you can't take anything away from the way Jan-Michael played. He was too good today.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's one of those days. You know, it's just a shame. You know you're going to have days like this, but you just hope it happens in a World Series event or a little bit smaller event than Wimbledon. There's not a lot I can do about it. You know, I'm going to get it out of my mind as quickly as possible. Obviously I'm going to learn a bit from this match, as well. You know, I've got to block it out and think about Davis Cup now and then the American summer.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Wasn't much to get pumped up about.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I tried as much as possible out there. I really had very little chances, particularly on his serve in the first two sets. He just served bombs the whole time. It wasn't till, you know, halfway I think sort of the second or third service game of his in the second set where I actually got my chance. You know, he was serving a lot of first serves. He served a lot of aces. There's not a lot you can do about it when you're in that situation.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's hard to say. Obviously I haven't experienced any other, I suppose, worse than today.

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not at all. I think I'm used to that, living in Australia, playing the Australian summer, doing very well in the Australian summer every year. It's probably very similar buildup to the Australian Open the last couple of years.

LLEYTON HEWITT: The whole time I still felt that I had a chance at winning. I never doubted myself until it was over today. Even though I was 5-2 up in the third set there, you know, even when I got 6-5 down, I felt like I could still break in that game. I did have breakpoint there. Get out of it in the tiebreak. You know, it was just a little bit disappointing that I didn't take my chance late in the third set there. Who knows, you're two sets to one, if I did break twice and win that set 6-2 - I think I had three set points, he served two aces on two of those - who knows if I could have broken him twice, would have had a lot more confidence going into the fourth and maybe even the fifth set.

LLEYTON HEWITT: No. Jan-Michael is a great player. I think up to this date, it's a little bit of a waste I suppose, some of his results. He beat me in the Scottsdale final a year and a bit ago now. I got a little bit of revenge - when was it - Miami in the quarterfinals there. He's a great player. I've got a lot of time for his game. He's got a very big game. If he's on, he's very big.

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not really. I started hitting Thursday afternoon lightly, then just sort of built up as the days went on. You know, there's no excuse at all.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I just had a little bit of a strain on my ankle. I didn't want to risk anything on average grass courts. Even though I did play well in Queen's, I tweaked it a couple times, had to have a lot of treatment and that. I didn't think that was the best preparation going into Wimbledon. Who knows, if I won a couple of matches there, it was going to maybe swell up and I didn't want to risk it.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I was fine.

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not really. No, not at all. The only thing it gave me was a lot of confidence, I suppose. Yeah, today doesn't show anything of what came out of Queen's I don't think at all. You know, I've still -- if you think about the two tournaments that I did play on grass, it's probably a shame that you don't get to play more tournaments on grass. Obviously the next Davis Cup tie is on grass. I'm still going to have a lot of confidence going into the Davis Cup tie against Brazil. If I do play that single's spot, I'm going to go out there and hope. I'm sure that I'm going to lift my game from today and play something like I did in Queen's.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's up to Newc and Rochey. I'm a hundred percent behind whoever they select. Obviously I think we're pretty dangerous with the three of us, you know, in the team. I don't think it damages anything really. As I said, I played one bad match. I think everyone has that.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It was definitely a bit slower. I would say it was probably closer to the first couple of days of Queen's, I think. The semis and final days were lightning quick at Queen's. I think they cut it down a lot more. I just noticed it wasn't as true a court as Queen's, not even close. It's a lot more slipperier out there than Queen's.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Obviously, you know, he's not the easiest person, the person you would want to play first round. You'd much rather play him with a couple matches under your belt, feel like you're in the tournament. That's tenniis, I suppose. That's sport. I've had some good draws in the past, and I've had some average draws. There's not a lot you can do about it.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, it's hard to say, I suppose. I haven't made a quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. I haven't been there towards the latter stage of a Grand Slam as yet. You know, that's sort of the next step that I've got to take, I suppose. The Masters Series I'm starting to get up there with a couple of semis now. The next step is definitely to sort of make it through to that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday of the second week in the Slams. You know, there's still areas in my game that I've got to work on. Obviously in the back of your mind you don't think you're going to go out there and win Wimbledon. I was just taking it one match at a time.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I just felt the whole court was slippery. I don't know. You know, obviously Pat and I play totally different games. He's going to look for a lot more opportunities to come to net than me. I just felt I didn't have any footing around the court at all. It was very hard if you did get pushed out wide, with my more baseline game, I really did struggle to sort of get myself back in the point, whereas at Queen's, sort of I could loop a ball back, get my footing back, have a little bit of time, get back in the point.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. You have it nearly every week (laughter). I don't like losing.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Centre Court at the Australian Open playing Norman in front of your home crowd in the Round of 16 when you're hitting the ball, you've just won two tournaments, hitting the ball great. Probably more disappointing, I'd say that one. Yeah, obviously I've had a lot of ups this year and I've had a couple of downs. The Davis Cup final last year when you lost to Cedric, I think that's probably the all-time low.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I didn't see the match. Sorry.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I hope so (laughter).

LLEYTON HEWITT: No worry at all. I think I'm only going to get better and better here at Wimbledon. I see the way that I played at Queen's, if I can get through to the second week, you know, the court becomes quicker and quicker, obviously gets a lot dryer out there, better underfoot. It's no big deal. 12 months from now I'm sure I'm going to be a better player than I am now. I'm going to be hungrier, as well, to do better here.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Haven't even thought about it. Davis Cup is the next thing. I haven't really even thought about it.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I've got to talk to Newcombe and Roche about Davis Cup commitments. Obviously Davis Cup comes first. I don't want to put anything -- I want to put everything on the line and give myself the best chance of playing well in Brisbane. There's not a lot of time after the tournament here.