The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Hewitt points to positive future for Australian tennis

20th January, 2015
0

For so many of Lleyton Hewitt’s 19 consecutive title tilts at the Australian Open, he stood out as the nation’s golden hope.

But on Tuesday night, Hewitt became the 10th local to bustle into the second round at Melbourne Park.

The 33-year-old slipped up in the second set, but recovered in vintage style to down Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze 6-3 1-6 6-0 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.

The former world No.1 next faces German Benjamin Becker, but admits it will be minus the sense of expectation that usually follows him in Melbourne.

“For sure. Obviously there’s other guys which can do damage in the tournament,” Hewitt said.

“It’s great for Australian tennis … it’s starting to get back like the good old days.

“Obviously when Pat (Rafter) retired and Flip (Mark Philippoussis) had a few injuries, there wasn’t a lot else that could go deep into a grand slam.”

Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Sam Groth, James Duckworth and Marinko Matosevic are all in action on Wednesday, with at least one Australian guaranteed to reach the third round given Kokkinakis faces Groth.

Advertisement

It is the first time since 2000 that so many Australians have made it beyond the first round in their home grand slam.

Hewitt said the hot start had not “really surprised” him.

The 2005 Australian Open runner-up added it was “only the first round” and “they’ve got to keep kicking on now”.

“They’ve had little flashes in the pan of quarter-finals, a couple of quarter-finals in slams,” he said.

“But they’ve got to try to do it on a more consistent basis now.

“Tomic, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, obviously they have big futures.

“The young guys that have had a lot of pressure and expectation on them, they’ve handled it really well which is important.”

Advertisement

Hewitt was fully expected to progress to the second round, given Zhang is ranked exactly 100 places below him at No.187.

But the 33-year-old was far from convincing early on, starting the match with two serves that thundered into the net.

As pundits pondered whether this could be Hewitt’s last Rod Laver Arena outing, the former world No.1 offered up three erratic ball tosses in a row.

Hewitt laughed at himself, steadied to hold serve then took the opening set.

“I just lost my rhythm,” he said.

“I knew I was going to have ups and downs during the match, but I had to weather the storm.”

Zhang rattled the veteran with two breaks to take the second set, but Hewitt dropped one of the next 13 points and served excellently to close out the third set in 26 minutes.

Advertisement

Zhang saved four match points, but not a fifth when his return went long.

close