Lleyton Hewitt’s farewell tour has encountered early disappointment following a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic at the Hopman Cup.
The 34-year-old is playing in the Australian Gold team, along with Jamila Wolfe (formerly Jarmila Gajdošová). In the first encounter of the three-match tie, Hewitt faced world No.41 Jiri Vesely. Despite having the crowd behind him, Hewitt made a tentative start to the match as Vesely won the first four games to eased himself to the opening set after just 35 minutes.
At 307th in the world, Hewitt’s form is far from his best as he swiftly approaches the end of his career. Nevertheless, the determination is still there for the 34-year-old as he matched Vesely game by game throughout the second set. Hewitt was in danger of losing the match in straight sets when Vesely surged to two break point chances at 5-5. Fortunately, for the Australian crowd the former world No.1 save both of them as he took the second set into a tie-break. The tie-break was a one-way journey for Hewitt as he broke his Czech opponent in his first two service points before winning 7-1.
The admirable effort invested by the Australian during the middle set came undone at the start of the third set as another below-par service game enabled Vesely to take an early 3-0 lead. Hewitt still kept battling by breaking back twice, but every time he broke back, the 22-year-old Czech responded immediately in the following game to maintain a stronghold in the match. As Hewitt ran out of solutions, the world No.41 took the match 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, after two hours and 22 minutes. After getting the win, Vesely spoke about the ‘50/50’ match during his press conference.
The loss might not be the most troubling aspect for Hewitt. Australian media have reported that he was troubled by an left knee injury during the match, however, he hasn’t commented on the issue. Speaking about his first competitive match since the US Open, Hewitt remained positive about his performance.
“I got better as the match went on,” Hewitt said.
“I hadn’t played a competitive singles match since the US Open so it was a really good hit out for me.
“I thought the standard was pretty good, especially in the second and third sets, and he’s a quality player with a big game. I think I’ll be better for the run.”
Tasked with trying to bring Australia Gold back into the tie, Wolfe experienced a difficult second match against world No.11 Karolina Pliskova. The start of the match was an even encounter between the two with the first 11 games going with serve until a costly falter from Wolfe. Serving 5-6, Pliskova managed to masterfully edge her way to two break points, converting the first of them to win the opening set. After her disappointing end to the first set, Wolfe responded positivey by breaking immediately at the start of the second to lead 2-0. Despite the spirited effort from Wolfe, Pliskova battled back by breaking her rival two consecutive times to clinch the 7-5, 6-3, win.
Throughout the Woman’s match Pliskova produced 9 aces, 27 winners and 11 unforced errors.
The tie was concluded with a mixed doubles match. As Hewitt made his way to the court there were no indication that his apparent knee issue was causing him trouble as he freely moved around the court. The news concerning Hewitt’s knee that the only good news for the home team as Pliskova and Vesely dominated the mixed doubles match, winning 6-2, 7-5.
