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Lleyton Hewitt Profile |
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Birth Date: February 24, 1981
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Birth Place: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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Birth Name: Lleyton Glynn Hewitt
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Height: 5'11"
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Biography |
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born February 24, 1981), is a former
World No. 1 tennis player from Australia. In 2001, he became
the youngest male ever to be ranked number one. His career
best achievements are winning the 2001 US Open and 2002
Wimbledon men's singles titles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put
Hewitt in 34th place on its list of the 40 greatest tennis
players since 1965.
Hewitt is known for his competitiveness and wins most of his
matches with relentless aggression, fitness, consistent
shots, and highly skilled footwork. His serve improved
greatly in 2004 and 2005. Hewitt spent much time in the late
stages of 2004 working with his former coach and good
friend, Roger Rasheed, on bulking up his physique. His hard
work paid off after he made it to the final of the 2005
Australian Open, before falling to Marat Safin.
Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Hewitt might well have
followed in the footsteps of his Australian rules
football-playing father. Instead, he became one of the
youngest winners of an Association of Tennis Professionals
(ATP) tournament when, as an almost unknown youngster, he
won the 1998 Next Generation Adelaide International,
defeating Andre Agassi in the semifinals. Only Aaron
Krickstein winning Tel Aviv in 1983 and Michael Chang
winning San Francisco in 1988 were younger when claiming
their first ATP title.
In 2000, Hewitt won his first Grand Slam title when he and
Max Mirnyi won the men's doubles championship at the US
Open. Hewitt's first Grand Slam singles title was at the
U.S. Open in 2001, when he defeated then-four time champion
Pete Sampras in straight sets.
He followed his US Open win with a victory at Wimbledon in
2002, defeating David Nalbandian in the final. His victory
reinforced the idea that although the tournament had tended
to be dominated by serve-and-volleyers, a baseliner like
Hewitt or Agassi could still triumph on grass. (Hewitt was
the first baseliner to win the tournament since Agassi did
it ten years earlier.)
In 2003 as the defending champion, Hewitt lost in the first
round of Wimbledon to qualifier Ivo Karlovic. Hewitt became
the first defending Wimbledon men's champion in the open era
to lose in the first round. Only once before in the
tournament's 126-year history had a defending men's champion
lost in the opening round, when in 1967 Manuel Santana was
beaten by Charles Pasarell. Hewitt also was only the third
defending champion to lose in the first round of a Grand
Slam singles tournament, after Boris Becker in the 1997
Australian Open and Pat Rafter in the 1999 US Open.
After Wimbledon in 2003, Hewitt lost in the final of the
tournament in Los Angeles, the second round of the ATP
Masters Series tournament in Montreal, and the first round
of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati. At the
US Open, Hewitt lost in the quarterfinals to Juan Carlos
Ferrero 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-1. Hewitt played only Davis Cup
matches for the remainder of the year, using his time off to
add 7 kg of muscle to his physique.
In 2004, Hewitt became the first man in history to lose in
each Grand Slam singles tournament to the eventual champion.
At the Australian Open, he was defeated in the fourth round
by Swiss Roger Federer. At the French Open, he was defeated
in a quarterfinal by Argentine Gastón Gaudio. At Wimbledon,
he was defeated in a quarterfinal by Federer. And at the US
Open, he was defeated in the final by Federer, losing two
out of the three sets at love.
At the year ending 2004 Tennis Masters Cup, Hewitt defeated
Andy Roddick to advance to the final but was yet again
defeated by defending champion Federer.
In 2005, Hewitt won his only title at the Sydney Medibank
International. He reached his first Australian Open final by
defeating World No. 2 Roddick but was defeated by Marat
Safin. At Wimbledon, he lost to Federer in a semifinal.
Federer went on the win the event for the third time. Almost
three months later, Hewitt again lost to Federer in a U.S.
Open semifinal, although this time he was able to take one
set from the Swiss. Hewitt had at this point lost to the
eventual champion at seven consecutive Grand Slam
tournaments he played (he missed the 2005 French Open
because of injury). Hewitt pulled out of the Tennis Masters
Cup tournament in Shanghai in November 2005 so that he could
be with his wife Bec as the birth of his first child grew
near. He was replaced by Gastón Gaudio.
After a fairly frosty start to 2006, Hewitt was defeated in
the second round of the Australian Open. After some time
away from the tour, his results improved. He reached the
finals of the San Jose and Las Vegas tournaments, losing to
British youngster Andy Murray and American James Blake,
respectively. But he lost to Tim Henman 7-6(5), 6-3 in the
second round of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Miami,
a player he had defeated eight times previously in as many
matches. At the 2006 French Open, Hewitt reached the fourth
round where he lost to defending champion, and eventual
winner, Rafael Nadal in four sets.
Hewitt won his first tournament of 2006 (after a 17 month
hiatus from winning a tournament) when he beat Blake 6-4,
6-4 in the finals of the Queen's Club Championships. This
was his fourth title there, equalling the records of John
McEnroe and Boris Becker. During the 2006 Wimbledon
Championships, Hewitt survived a five-set match against
South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee that was played over two days.
He then defeated Olivier Rochus and David Ferrer before
losing to Marcos Baghdatis in a quarterfinal. At the 2006
Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington D.C., Hewitt was
defeated by Arnaud Clement 7-6(1), 6-4 in a quarterfinal
after defeating Vincent Spadea in the second round and Denis
Gremelmayr in the third round. Hewitt paticipated at the
2006 US Open despite having an injured knee. Hewitt won his
first three matches in straight sets against, respectively,
Albert Montanes, Jan Hernych, and Novak Đoković. He defeated
Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in the fourth round
to advance to the quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive
year. He then lost to Roddick 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
At the 2007 Australian Open, Hewitt lost in the third round
to the tenth seeded Chilean and eventual runner-up Fernando
González 6-2, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. With his win in Las Vegas in
March, 2007, Hewitt has won at least one ATP title annually
for ten consecutive years. This was a record among active
players at the time.
Hewitt reached the 2007 Hamburg Masters semifinals, where he
pushed eventual finalist Rafael Nadal to three sets. At the
2007 French Open, Hewitt, for the 2nd straight time at
Roland Garros, lost in the 4th round to Rafael Nadal 6-3,
6-1, 7-6(5). At the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, Hewitt won
his first three matches, including a four-set third round
victory over Guillermo Canas. He then faced 4th seed Novak
Đoković in the fourth round which he lost 7-6, 7-6, 4-6,
7-6.
After Wimbledon, it was announced that he had hired former
Australian tennis pro, Tony Roche, to coach him during Grand
Slam and Masters tournaments in 2007 and 2008.
On November 19, 2001, Hewitt became the youngest male ever
to be ranked World number one (20 years old). He stayed No.
1 until April 28, 2003, a streak of 64 weeks. After two
weeks ranked second, he returned to No. 1 for four weeks.
Since then, his highest ranking has been No. 2 . Hewitt's
ranking has improved dramatically since he reached the
semifinals in the Hamburg Masters and the Poertschach
tournament. As of July 9, 2007, Hewitt is currently world
no. 21.
Hewitt was a part of the Australian Davis Cup Team that won
the Davis Cup in 1999 and 2003 and reached the final in 2000
and 2001. By the age of 22, he had recorded more wins in
Davis Cup singles than any other Australian player.
In 2003, Hewitt led the Australian team to victory when he
defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the opening rubber 3-6, 6-3,
3-6, 7-6, 6-2.
In the 2006 quarterfinals in Melbourne, Hewitt defeated
Belarusian Vladimir Voltchkov 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in just 91
minutes. Voltchkov said before the match that "Hewitt has no
weapons to hurt me." Hewitt responded, "Voltchkov doesn't
have a ranking [of 457] to hurt me." In the semifinals in
Buenos Aires on clay, Hewitt lost to Argentine Jose Acasuso
1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
In February 2007, Australia led by Hewitt lost in the first
round to Belgium in Belgium on clay. Hewitt lost to then
World No. 41 Kristof Vliegen, and his teammate Chris
Guccione also lost his first singles match. Although Hewitt
won both his doubles match with Paul Hanley and singles
match against Olivier Rochus to get Australia back in
contention, Guccione could not prevent an Australian first
round exit, their first since 2004.
In a five set match with James Blake at the 2001 US Open,
Hewitt complained to umpire Andres Egli and asked for a
black linesman to be moved after being called for two
foot-faults in the third set. "Look at him," Hewitt said,
gesturing at the linesman. "Look at him and you tell me what
the similarity is." Some witnesses, including Blake, had
suggested that the "similarity" referred to the color shared
by Blake and the linesman. Hewitt claimed he had merely
pointed out that the same linesman had foot-faulted him on
both occasions, while other officials had made no such
calls.
Hewitt blamed his losses at the 2005 and 2006 Australian
Open on uncooperative maintenance of the courts by the
tournament directors. "I don't think there's been a lot of
homework done on how the balls play on this surface," he
said. "Mate, it could be slower than the French Open."
Hewitt was disappointed that the organisers had ignored his
concerns about the courts. "I feel like I'm fighting with
people that we should be working together to try and make
Australian tennis better," he said. Since then, long-time
Australian Open chief executive Paul McNamee has resigned,
leaving new tournament director Craig Tiley to confirm that
the main aim for 2007 was to provide "uniformity and
consistency" when the stadium's match and practice courts
were resurfaced in November 2006. The courts will be as fast
as they were in the second week of the 2006 tournament,
which should suit Hewitt's game better.
In 2006 Hewitt was nominated by GQ Magazine as one of the
'10 Most Hated Athletes' in Sport. That same year, he came
under criticism from Australian child psychologist Michael
Carr-Gregg for exploiting his child during the 2006 Logie
Awards.
Hewitt is a keen supporter of Australian rules football,
having played the game earlier in his career and is no.1
ticket holder for the Adelaide Crows. He once had a
friendship with Crows star Andrew McLeod, but this broke
down over much public controversy.
Hewitt had a four-year relationship with highly-ranked
Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters. The two announced their
engagement just before Christmas 2003 but separated in
October 2004, in effect cancelling a planned February 2005
wedding.
Shortly after losing the final of the 2005 Australian Open,
Hewitt proposed to Australian actress Bec Cartwright on
January 30th after they had been dating for six weeks. They
married on July 21, 2005. Their first child, a daughter
named Mia Rebecca Hewitt, was born on November 29, 2005.
Hewitt is currently sponsored by Japanese sports manufacter
giant Yonex, with whom he signed a "Head to Toe" deal with
in late 2005. Yonex provides all of Hewitt's clothing,
racquets, shoes and accessories. Hewitt's Yonex shoes are
inscribed with his nickname "Rusty" along with an image of
an Australian flag. His racquet, currently the Yonex RDS 001
Mid also features his nickname on the throat of the racquet |
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Other Information |
Played Australian football until he decided to pursue tennis
at age 13
Formerly engaged to WTA tennis player Kim Clijsters
Youngest player ever to claim the #1 spot in professional
tennis.
As of August 2005, he has won 25 major singles titles
including the 2001 US Open, 2002 Wimbledon, the 2001 and
2002 Tennis Masters Cup and the 2000 US Open doubles
championships. He also reached the finals of the 2004 US
Open and Tennis Masters Cup as well as the 2005 Australian
Open.
He and his wife, Rebecca Cartwright, welcomed their first
child, a daughter named Mia Rebecca Hewitt, on the 29th
November 2005 at 1.45am in Sydney. |
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