PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 20, 2005

Lleyton Hewitt

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and Gentlemen, Lleyton Hewitt. Open it for questions.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I actually can't remember.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I remember how it finished.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I remember, you know, we both should have won it a few times, I think. It kept sort of -- the lobs just didn't quite go over his head far enough. He kept always getting a swing on his forehand. Yeah, at least I won something.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Maybe after you win a Davis Cup, Davis Cup final or something, in five sets. That's about it. Not normally after a point. Especially when neither of you are from America either.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he played well. That's sort of the standard that he's put himself week in and week out now. It's not like he's doing something freaky out of the blue. He really is playing like that pretty much every week now. So that's why you've got to try and keep working on things to take your game to the next level to be able to compete against him. Because if you want to be the best player in the world, you've got to look at where the benchmark is. And he's set it pretty high right at the moment.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Have I? I don't know (smiling).

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, yeah.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not sure. I think there's a few areas I see. I didn't move great today, but I actually felt -- ball-striking, I felt like I hit the ball pretty well. Yeah, Roger's a tough guy. I felt like I went -- you know, probably went for a little bit more than you probably need to, as well. But against a guy like Roger, as I spoke about last night, his moving is superior. I don't think people give him enough credit for his moving around the court. He makes you go for that little bit extra every time because he really does cut off the angles extremely well, as well. You know, it's a tough decision to make, how much to go for it and how much to pull back sometimes out there.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I hurt my toes last night.

LLEYTON HEWITT: (Nodding head.)

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yes.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It was a factor to me. I probably wouldn't have won anyway, but, you know, it was definite -- I wasn't moving a hundred percent.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, yeah, I did.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Pretty ordinary (smiling).

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's a hard thing to do. I can understand, when you only have -- they had the women's doubles final afterwards, not a women's final as well on the same day, then I can understand, you know, the positive of having a five-set men's final purely because it gives the crowd more value and TV time and stuff. I think we have to try and make a decision. I don't know what changed this year compared to the last years at this particular event. I know Miami's always had a five-set final there. But there's no doubt that if you play the last match of the day, the day before, you have a long match, you're definitely going to be a little bit more disadvantaged. But then again, it would be better if we had one thing for the whole way through all the Masters Series events, I think, and we stuck to one particular rule.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know about with this, but yeah.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, there's no doubt. The more time, you're always going to be better. But, then again, you can't just have a whole day off of Sunday, nothing on Sunday.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, maybe you can do that. Yeah. If they're going to decide to play the women's final the day before the men's final, then maybe that's an idea.

LLEYTON HEWITT: For tomorrow, if I was playing tomorrow?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Today?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. Actually, physically I felt fine. It was just my toe was struggling today. Apart from that, my body bounced back. That was the frustrating thing.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, his backhand's definitely weaker than his forehand. There's no doubt about that. It's a lot better backhand than most guys around, though. When you have to look at the whole picture of his whole game, his backhand is definitely weaker than his forehand. He's got a great slice backhand, as well. If there's one shot that's going to go off, nine times out of ten, it's going to be the backhand instead of the forehand.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's tough to play week in and week out. He's done it as well as anyone I've seen in the past. He's purely just playing on confidence I think a lot at the moment, as well. He goes out there and he believes on the big points and the big shots are going to come off for him. The last year and a half, they have. He knows when to pull the trigger. He's sort of playing on autopilot a lot out there, I think. He just has a lot of self-belief in himself under the big situations right at the moment.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Who knows. But right at the moment, he's handling it all pretty well.

LLEYTON HEWITT: He could. A lot of things change, as well. Whether it's niggling injuries, there could be a lot of variables pop into the situation. Some young guy might pop out. You don't know. Right at the moment, he's doing as well as he can.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'm playing pretty good at the moment, I think. The Australian summer, I think I played pretty well in most of the big matches, even the Masters Cup at the end of the year and US Open. I'm probably playing as well as I've ever played, even when I was No. 1. But the game keeps getting better and better. It just jumps. And Roger's taken it to another level. Even though I'm No. 2 in the world, not No. 1, doesn't mean I'm playing worse than when I was No. 1. But you've got to keep working on areas of your game and try and become a better player. That's where you look at a guy like Agassi, to see that he's been in the Top 5, Top 10 for so many years, when the game keeps getting better and better. He just seems to drag something extra out of his body every time, which is pretty amazing to do it for that long.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Today, not a whole heap. The week's been good, though. I always like coming here and playing in this event. Yeah, it's been a good week. Obviously getting to another final, beating Andy in the semis, after only just overtaking him in the last, I don't know, two or three months for the No. 2 position. Consolidating that spot, you know, it's something I can take away this week.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's not bad. A bit stronger than the Aussie dollar (smiling).

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not sure. Got to have a look at it probably this afternoon. We'll see what happens.

LLEYTON HEWITT: About halfway through the third set.

LLEYTON HEWITT: At the moment, there's a chance.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not exactly sure at the moment.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's all inflamed. Nail is going left, right and center. It's happened a fair few times in the past, but this is probably as bad as it's been. Did a lot of running last night against Andy. A couple of times I just pulled up and it was pretty sore last night. Didn't get any better overnight.

LLEYTON HEWITT: They're both a little sore. Right at the moment the right one is a bit worse than the left.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Andre? I don't know. I think so. We're both Nike. But I don't know if it's the exact -- I can't actually think what he's wearing.

LLEYTON HEWITT: There you go. I'm wearing the same as Federer, and he doesn't have a problem.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. Always when I'm on the court, you know, I'm intense out there. I think you have to be, especially I have to be I think to play my best tennis. Off the court, though, I feel relaxed at the moment. I felt relaxed for a while now. I'm enjoying my tennis. I'm enjoying training. I'm enjoying life off the court as well, which is a good thing.

LLEYTON HEWITT: 17 in a row, yeah, that is incredible. To think that you don't have one slip-up. I think Ljubicic pushed him in at least one final earlier in the year. But to think every time in close matches and that, he's obviously doing something right on the big points, which gets back to self-belief and confidence within yourself, going out there. That's why he's No. 1.