January 14, 2014
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA
A. SEPPI/L. Hewitt
7‑6, 6‑3, 5‑7, 5‑7, 7‑5
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Just how tough were the conditions out there today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was obviously hot. As the match went on we got a little bit of cloud cover. And with the roof, you know, just a bit of shade I guess across the court, which is a bit more pleasant to play in.
Q. How important is it in conditions like that to monitor what your opponent is doing and how his body language is? How did you find his body language in the fifth set?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's important to keep an eye on it. Obviously there's a lot of ups and downs over a five‑set match.
Yeah, I think throughout the fourth set I felt like he was struggling a little bit. He wasn't reacting quite as well. Then in the start of the fifth set he came out sort of with all guns blazing.
Played a great game to break me the first game of the fifth. He sort of went for it. He could have easily made four errors and gave me that first game, so...
Q. You must be happy with your fitness to be able to sustain it for 4 hours and 18 minutes?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, no, I felt not bad. Even towards the end, a little bit flat as the match goes on.
But, yeah, there was only one or two points in it in the end.
Q. Where does this rank in terms of your tough losses?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Every Grand Slam loss is tough. There's no easy ones. You know, obviously if you come close to winning, even though it's a first‑round match, it's still frustrating.
Q. What turned it around in that third set after being two sets down?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I was probably a little bit more aggressive as the match went on. Started hitting my forehand down the line a little bit better. My inside‑out forehand was running away a little bit.
He served pretty well for the most part, for a guy that doesn't have the biggest serve out there. He hits his spots pretty well. But, you know, I was able to just sort of hang in there in the third set and somehow able to turn it around.
I was down an early break in the third, fourth, and fifth set.
Q. You're out there on the court, the match is on your racquet, but the fanatics are up in the stands chanting. Do you hear them? Does that boost you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's obviously great having them there anytime. They were up in Brisbane a couple weeks ago. All the Australian tournaments have been a lot of fun, as well as the Davis Cup.
Q. Do you actually hear their chants?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, you hear some stuff, yeah.
Q. You're down to play doubles on Hisense tomorrow.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Is it Hisense? Thanks.
Q. Still going ahead with it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, at this stage.
Q. Have you talked to Pat about it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, I haven't spoken to him yet.
Q. At this stage you'll play?
LLEYTON HEWITT: That's what I said, yeah.
Q. If you and Patrick teamed up with the other players and the legends that they're associated with, like Murray and Lendl, Roger and Edberg, Djokovic and Becker, how do you think that would come out?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Playing a match?
Q. Yeah.
LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. I'd say that right at the moment Pat's probably the best out of all of those guys. He's probably in the best shape. You know, Stefan is still in good shape. I don't know how much he hits, though.
Q. Tonight you equaled the record for the most five‑set matches in the Open era. Equaled Andre Agassi with 41. Must get sick of putting your body through constant grueling, five‑set matches.
LLEYTON HEWITT: It would be nice to, yeah, get through a bit more comfortabler [sic] and get through. With that said, I didn't have a lot of choice after being down two sets to love today. That was the only way out of it. I had to try to keep fighting, find a way.
You know, ended up one point from coming back from two sets.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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