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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 15, 2007

Lleyton Hewitt

CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously he was struggling a bit toward the end, but you seemed to be playing better today.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. I played a lot better. Came out the blocks well. At the start he was hitting the ball like he always does. He's very fluent from the back of the court and he's got all the shots and hits a lot angles as well off both sides.
I got out of the second game of the match and then the next game I played a really good game. I put pressure on him and hit a good return to break serve. And just try and consolidate. I was down Love-30 and got out of that game and that was big, and that opened the doors a little bit.

Q. You had such a long day yesterday. You've obviously recovered from the long match yesterday.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Pretty well. As well as I can.

Q. Were you sore this morning?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I was a little bit tired. But warming up, that was probably a little bit harder today than yesterday. But once the adrenaline gets going, yeah, I feel like I've done all the hard work. I know that once I get on court I'm going to run around like a greyhound and get a lot of balls back.

Q. You probably didn't want to win this way, but was it also nice to get a break given the you played almost three hours yesterday?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was good for me. I felt like I was getting on top. I was serving pretty well today as well. Even throughout the second set there my service games were pretty comfortable.
Obviously I was getting in his game in that last game before he stopped. For me hopefully it was only going to be a couple more games before I got off anyway.

Q. You looked to be coming into the net a lot today. Was that part of the strategy against him, or something you're trying to do more?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I just felt like after yesterday I probably had a lot of missed opportunities where I could've come in and put pressure on him, and I tried to work on that today. Just adding another dimension to my game.
It's not easy though. Both guys that I've played the last few days their strength is probably their backhand, and they both have great backhand passes. I came in on one ball early today in the match against Gasquet and he hit a great backhand pass on me.
So you really do have to pick and choose the right ones. Then again, you don't want to get too down on yourself if you do it and they come up with a shot like that. You need to keep telling yourself if they're good enough to do that they're too good.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on the ongoing investigation involving Davydenko and that match where a lot of money was placed against him Poland? I was wondering what was your thoughts on gambling and tennis in general.
LLEYTON HEWITT: We went through it all last week, but until the investigation is done it's out of players' hands and I don't have anything to do with it basically. It's obviously awkward for Nikolay at the moment with that sort of sitting over his head and trying to play and compete and beat tournaments as well.
Obviously something strange has happened, and I thought the ATP were pretty quick to get onto it and sort of done everything in their power so far to try and find out and get to the bottom of it.

Q. Were you surprised that happened?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, I guess a lot of people out there gamble on a lot of things. On everything basically. That's why you know, there's so many gambling agencies out there that you can do it through.
In terms of tennis, I think all the players have been warned and told enough times to know that they shouldn't be doing anything if they are. If he's found guilty then there's going to be a bit of trouble for him.

Q. Some of French guys last week were saying that they had calls -- some of the doubles players -- that they had calls from people offering them money to throw matches. Have you heard of anything like that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No. I haven't heard of anything.

Q. That's amazing. In their hotels.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. If that happens it's amazing.

Q. It's never happened to you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No. I've never heard of it. I guess in tennis maybe it's easier in a little way because it's a two-horse race. But, yeah, I'd like to think that every player out there is playing for the right reasons.

Q. Is part of the reason you're coming forward more from working with Tony? Is he suggesting that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. That's one of the things he wants me to try and do a little bit more. But, yeah, still something that's going take time. Doesn't happen overnight. It's obviously something, that and my serve, are two of the main points.

Q. So many players seem to hit better passing shots on the run than they do straight out.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Sometimes. The last couple days the I was surprised with a couple of the shots Wawrinka hit on the full run yesterday, especially off his backhand. He was extremely strong on the stretch. Gasquet is known for that. That's one of his strengths.
For me it's more of a mix up, a change up a little bit. And as I said, just to have it my back pocket if I need it use it.

Q. What about your prospective opponents? You've played Melzer.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. I played Ancic I think once two years ago here in the third round. He's coming back obviously from a long lay off and he's a quality player. Yeah, if he's feeling strong and feeling good then he's always going to be tough to beat. The way that he plays it's aggressive from the back of the court and got a big serve.
Melzer is a dangerous opponent. You're never really sure what he's going to throw at you. He's got an all-court game as well. He's capable of coming in and does volley very well.

Q. What role does your family play in your tennis at this point in your career?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Big role. You know, obviously for me having my wife and child travel with me means a lot. It's a lot easier for me to just worry about going out and playing tennis and not missing them so much. That's the biggest thing for me. I feel comfortable with it.

End of FastScripts

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