The tennis world will say good-bye to Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt’s playing days at the 2016 Australian Open. Rusty, a worldwide fan favorite, has carried the torch for Australian male tennis players for much of the past twenty years. Retiring from the pro-circuit has not led to any slacking off for the Adelaide native. True to form, the two-time grand slam champion embarked on an arduous summer training regiment to be prepared as best as possible for his final professional appearance at Melbourne Park. “I still want to get the most out of myself and push myself to the limit,” he said. Hewitt played in the Hopman Cup (including a win over American Jack Sock – world number 26) and exhibition matches in Sydney and Adelaide in preparation for his last Australian Open.
This is Hewitt’s 20th consecutive appearance at the Happy Slam, the first player in history to appear at the tournament on 20 separate occasions. In 1997, at 15 years and 11 months old, Hewitt was the youngest qualifier in Australian Open history. Although he went down in the first round to two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera of Spain, the young Australian already showed himself as a fierce competitor with incredible energy.
Hewitt went on to lose in the first round at his home Grand Slam six more times (1998, 2002, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2014), three times in the second round (1999, 2006, and 2015), and twice in the third round (2001 and 2007). Despite these early exits, Hewitt always gave 100%, sometimes fighting illnesses and injuries.
At just 18 years old and already in his fourth Australian Open, Hewitt reached the fourth round in 2000, but went down to Magnus Norman, ranked 11 at the time. He was ousted in the fourth round five more times (2003, 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2012), four of which were by the eventual champion, twice by Roger Federer and twice by Novak Djokovic. As the 15th seed in 2004, Hewitt defeated a young Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the third round. Waiting for Hewitt in the next round was Federer. The Australian took the first set but Federer was “too good” and won the next three sets on his way to his first Australian Open title. In 2008, Hewitt faced Djokovic in the fourth round after beating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in a third round five-set marathon that ended just after 4:30 a.m., the latest-starting and latest-finishing match in tournament history. The Serb won in straight sets and went on to win his first Australian Open crown.
Hewitt had his best performance at the Australian Open in 2005 as the fourth seed when he reached the Final but lost to Russian Marat Safin. It was an impressive run despite the extremely tough draw. In the first round, he dismissed Arnaud Clement of France in straight sets. He dropped the first set in the second round to American James Blake, but prevailed in four sets to advance. Another tough four-set win over Juan Ignacio Chela followed in the third round. Hewitt has said, “I think he half spat at me during the match at one change over. There was a whole lot of issues happening at the time. I was able to get through them. It was an epic feeling.” Hewitt reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open for the first time by besting the young Nadal for the second straight year, this time in five sets. In the quarterfinals, Hewitt and David Nalbandian played a five-set classic. “To win epic five-setters in Melbourne Park, there is no better feeling,” Hewitt said. The Australian then beat a fresh American Andy Roddick in four sets in the semifinals. The hopes of winning a home Grand Slam ended with a loss to Safin in four sets. Even though he did not get the title, Hewitt thinks that it was one of the “best rides” of his career.
Hewitt is the youngest male ever to be ranked No. 1 in the world in singles, at the age of 20. He has thirty singles titles to his credit including two Grand Slams. He captured his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in 2001 and his second at Wimbledon in 2002. He won two tournaments as recently as 2014 – Brisbane and Newport.
Not surprisingly, Rusty will continue to be involved in Australian tennis with his beloved Davis Cup team. He will take charge as captain in March. Hewitt’s first challenge will be against the United States. The United States and Australia are the two most decorated Davis Cup nations with 32 titles for the U.S. and 28 titles for Australia.
Recently, Hewitt has said “…for me playing in Australia in front of my home crowd, that’s the biggest thing I’m going to miss from the game. I just love doing it, I love competing, I love pushing myself and I’ve had one hell of a ride.” C’mon!
