TENNIS MASTERS CUP- HOUSTON

November 17, 2004

Lleyton Hewitt

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, little bit. But I actually felt I had a lot of chances early. I had breakpoints. I was the one that had the first breakpoints and wasn't quite able to take. I was in a rally, ended up missing a backhand in a long rally. Yeah, then next game around, you know, I lost serve after having a game point there as well. So I felt like there were two huge games. And then the next game I had another two breakpoints and wasn't able to capitalize. Sort of been the story against Roger in the last few matches that I've played. I've had a lot of opportunities and haven't been able to take them at the right time. Even in the last game there tonight, you know, I had 15-30, had an opportunity; you know, 30-All, had another opportunity. You know, against the best players in the world, especially "the" best player in the world right at the moment, you got to take those.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's tough. Especially when you come out after a rain delay and you're down a set and a break against such a great player. He's tough enough, I guess, to break his serve at, you know -- when you're even sometimes, let alone when you're down a set and a break coming out after a rain delay and you don't have that many opportunities. So the first one, he won to love, I think. First service game after the rain delay. Then the next one I had opportunities. I wasn't quite able to take them. But, you know, against the best players, as I said, you got to take those chances.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, but, you know, it set him apart all year, I guess. Only so many lines you can hit. And, you know, he's obviously, you know, probably found a lot more than a lot of other guys this year, but that's why he's No. 1 in the world. And, yeah, he's got a sort of belief there at the moment to pull the trigger on the big points. That probably stands out more than anything else, I think, from being the best player in the world to, you know, the next five or six guys, is he really believes that, you know, he can go for it on those big points. And at the moment, in a lot of big matches, it's paying off.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I know what I've got to do (smiling). So, yeah... Obviously, you know, I think it's -- probably the ball's in my court. Obviously, you'd think Carlos is going to have an extremely tough time against Roger, but, you know, you never know.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, at the start of the match, I guess you approach it like the same as you would. After having breakpoints and that, you start getting a feeling of where maybe he's going to go and that. But he's got such great variety on all his shots, not just his serve. His forehand can go all the way. He's got a great topspin backhand, a great slice backhand as well, and he can come to the net. He volleys well. So you've always got that in the back of your mind, I guess, because he's got so many options out there.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, it's hard to say. I think Andre has been probably the best that I've seen, especially since I came on tour. You know, Roger may be taking over a little bit of that but, you know, Andre is still a master of dictating play and working the angles and making your opponents, you know, even if he ends up losing the point, he sometimes gets four or five cheap points after that. Roger might be getting to that stage but, you know, still, Andre is one of the greatest that I've seen at that.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. Yeah, Roger moves extremely well, you know. For a bigger guy and, you know -- he really moves, you know, smoothly around the court. Doesn't look like he's running that fast, but he gets to a lot of balls, and gives himself plenty of time on all shots. I think that's one thing that really stands out when you're playing against a guy like that. That sometimes makes you go for a little bit more than you would against other players. But, you know, he doesn't have that many weaknesses either. His forehand is obviously his stand-out shot from the back of the court. I got passed a couple of times tonight when I came in on his backhand as well. Sometimes you got to hit it a little bit deeper or work the angles a little bit more against a guy like Roger.