Lleyton Hewitt may have played his final match at the All England Club, but his legacy will stand for decades as the man who would fight until the very end.
At 10:37 PM on the 29th of June, many Australians would have normally have been preparing for a night’s sleep, but a large percentage would still be on the couch waiting for Lleyton Hewitt to embark on his final Wimbledon campaign.
Hewitt was matched up against fellow journeyman Jarkko Nieminen, a man who had never beaten him in their previous five encounters and also participating in his final Wimbledon before his own retirement.
An eerie feeling surrounded Court 2 at SW19, with fans knowing that they could be witnessing Hewitt’s final match on the hallowed lawns of the All England Club. The fans were in awe of the two players as the match began as good, but became a classic.
The match went set-for-set with Hewitt taking the first and third, and Nieminen taking the second and a 6-0 fourth set. The latter was only the second time Hewitt had not won a game in a set, the other being against Roger Federer in the 2004 quarter-finals.
The fifth began with Hewitt taking a medical timeout after feeling tightness in the joints around his knee. It seemed to work with the Australian breaking immediately, only to be broken straight back. This sequence repeated itself again on two occasions with Hewitt unable to consolidate on his own serve.
At 4-5 down in the fifth, Nieminen was able to acquire three match points, however the Australian played three perfectly constructed points to save them and level the set at five all. Until the players levelled at nine a piece service games were relatively easy, however at 9-10, Nieminen hit a glorious backhand down the line to save a game point and go on to break Hewitt to record a memorable victory, taking the fifth 11-9.
Although it was an extremely devastating way for Hewitt to lose, it was somewhat fitting to lose in his typical fighting style, not giving in until the very end.
If he had have won the match, it would have been labelled as one of his greatest victories at the All England Club, as he seemed to be fighting to stay in the match after the second set.
Even though the result did not fall in the way of the Australian, the match will still be remembered as one of Hewitt’s greatest at Wimbledon, against the odds with a lack of match practice, a weary body and a low first serve percentage but still nearly recording a stirring win.
His fighting spirit has been trademarked at Wimbledon since his first tournament in 1999. In the 2002 semi final he was able to defeat Brit Tim Henman and a hostile crowd in straight sets, going on to obliterate a confident David Nalbandian 6-1 6-3 6-2 in the final.
In 2006 he held off a fast finishing Hyung-Taik Lee in the second round, winning in five close sets while only serving at 55 per cent and converting 6 of 20 break points. The win over Lee further enhanced his reputation of being the most difficult player to defeat over five sets.
In 2008, he was on the cusp of being eliminated in the first round against Dutchman Robin Haase, the then world number 64. The match entered a fifth set, but Hewitt never took his foot of the accelerator to run away with the final set, winning 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-7 6-2.
2009 was arguably one of Hewitt’s best performances at Wimbledon, he defeated world number five Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 7-5 7-5 in the second round, then defeated German Philipp Petzschner in straight sets to advance to the fourth round where he recorded one of his best career wins.
The Australian played Czech Radek Stepanek, accomplished serve volleyer with flamboyance and flare. Hewitt would lose the first two sets 4-6 and 2-6 after the Czech player lit up Court 2 with his serving precision and textbook volleying. From then on, the Australian would nullify the strengths of the Stepanek game and dictate the play in the final three sets, winning them 6-1 6-2 6-2 in an amazing display. The win would lead to Hewitt reaching the final Grand Slam quarter-final of his career, where he and long time rival Andy Roddick produced a classic encounter, with the American eventually prevailing 6-3 6-7 7-6 6-4 4-6.
In 2013, Hewitt would play Stanislas Wawrinka, who was in good form and cementing his place in the top 10 at the time. Hewitt would conduct a vintage display and defeat the Swiss man 6-4 7-5 6-3 to shock the tennis world and prove that he could still match it with the best.
The win against Stepanek in 2009 would be the last five set win that Hewitt would have at Wimbledon, he would go on to lose to Robin Soderling in 2011 after having a two sets to love lead, and he would also lose to Pole Jerzy Janowicz in 2014 after a typical Hewitt fight, recovering from a two set deficit, only to lose 6-3 in the fifth set.
‘Rusty’ would again put that fighting spirit to work in 2015 but could not conjure up a finishing touch against Nieminen, and when Hewitt said goodbye to the English crowd for the final time, putting his firm hand fingers to his eyes in his traditional ‘Come On’ way, his fans cheered and applauded the unbelievable career that Hewitt made for himself at Wimbledon.
The match marked the end of an era for Wimbledon, for Australian tennis and for the ATP World Tour. He was the first baseliner to win Wimbledon, and has changed the way that the tournament has been played since his run to the title in 2002.
His name will be etched into the top echelon of grass court players for decades to come.
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