TMS - INDIAN WELLS

March 17, 2001

Lleyton Hewitt

MODERATOR: Questions for Lleyton.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was tough conditions out there tonight. You know, it's pretty gusty, a lot gustier than when I first hit this morning or this afternoon. You know, it was actually tough. It was swirling a lot. There wasn't one particular way which I could feel the wind was going out there. I think the first set was pretty scrappy. After that, it got a little bit better. Obviously, you know, he made a lot of unforced errors out there tonight.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, you know, obviously when you get it back on serve, after he served for the match, I definitely gave myself another chance, I suppose. Like another life out there really, you know, because he's played so many big matches and closed so many big matches out. To get that opportunity to serve for it. But to his credit, he came out, didn't make too many unforced errors in the next game.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, this week was good. I played I think five matches, five good matches. I got better and better with every match that I played, I thought. You know, obviously it's disappointing losing, but to lose to Andre Agassi, you know, he's in pretty good form at the moment, obviously coming off the Australian Open win. He's doing pretty well. Made the final of San Jose. It's not a bad loss, 6-4 in the third against him. Obviously, I had my chances, 2-All in the third set, I didn't take advantage of it. Hopefully I'm going to have a lot more opportunities here in Indian Wells, other big Masters Series events.

LLEYTON HEWITT: There's a lot of I think positives and negatives about being big or small. I draw confidence, I suppose, from watches guys like Andre, Michael Chang, those guys get to No. 1, No. 2 in the world, and stay there for a lot of years. Obviously, you're a lot closer to the ground, very quick around the court. Most of the shorter guys return very well, as well. Obviously we've got to try and counter-punch maybe a little bit more. I think it's nice to see. I think it's good for tennis to have mixtures of games. The big guys, you have Marat Safin, hits big and strong. You have Patrick Rafter, total serve and volleyer. You have guys like myself, try to stay back, drive from the baseline. I think it's good for tennis just to have different varieties. You don't definitely have to be 6'4" to win a Grand Slam.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I saw a little bit.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. Not about the match.