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Roger Federer has underscored the hurdles Lleyton Hewitt faces in his bid to return to the form which earned him Wimbledon and US Open glory.
As Hewitt recovers from hip surgery and declares he wants a place in tennis’ top 10 again, Federer emphasised the major hiccups he could expect along the way.
The Swiss star, who next week will begin his Australian Open campaign in a bid to equal Pete Sampras all-time record of 14 grand slam titles, said Hewitt could expect setbacks – but his experience would be a bonus.
“I guess the biggest problem for him is being unseeded, just getting tougher draws than he’s used to,” Federer said on Wednesday after disposing of Spain’s Carlos Moya 6-2 6-3 on the opening day of the Kooyong Classic.
“So to get to the quarters or semis he’s got to beat two, three, quality really top guys rather than having to beat one or two.
“So that all makes it much more difficult to get a bit further in the draw.
“You know me, I always love watching Lleyton play.
“I’m always happy when he’s playing and he has come back from an injury – which is never easy, but he’s definitely the type of guy who has got the best chance of making it right up in the rankings again and I hope he’s going to do really well.”
Federer denied Hewitt, who turns 28 next month, was too old to make the trip back up the rankings.
“Twenty-seven is not really old you know,” he said of Hewitt, who has advanced to the quarter-finals of this week’s Sydney International.
“Really, of course, being No.1 in the world and having won the US Open and Wimbledon and Davis Cup, all these kinds of things, he’s got a great record and a great career, so it’s obviously going to be hard to do that all over again.
“But at the same time you’ve got to believe in it and I think once, like Carlos (Moya) or Lleyton, once you’ve been No.1 in the world and won grand slams, they know how to do that and they will always have an edge over all the other players who haven’t been able to achieve that.”
Federer, meanwhile, sent out a clear warning that he was far better prepared for the first major of the year than he was in 2008 when he struggled through to the semi-finals at Melbourne Park while fighting the effects of a persistent virus.
“Preparation was completely different last year,” he said. “Last year I was just trying to be playing at the Australian Open – this time around (I’m) trying to be feeling as good as I can.”
Federer was joined by opening day winners Stanislas Wawrinka, Fernando Verdasco and Fernando Gonzalez at Kooyong.
Swiss world No.16 Wawrinka crushed Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2 6-2, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco scored a 6-2 7-5 win over Croatian Marin Cilic and Gonzalez, from Chile, defeated another Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic, 6-4 6-3.
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