推 freijaking:推推! 05/17 23:25
Hamburg, 16 May 2007
Press Conference with LLEYTON HEWITT
Hewitt - Chela 6:2, 7:6 (3)
Q: Bloody good effort.
HEWITT: Yes. He is always a tough player to play
against on any surface. But I never played against
him on clay. I had a good game plan what I wanted to
do out there. I felt like I executed it well the
whole match. For a set and a half I played faultless
tennis out there. He is the kind of player, who will
always try and find a way to get back into a match,
especially on this surface. It is quite a heavy clay
court out there which suit his game.
Q: Following up from the previous win in the first ro
und, it has been a pretty good week so far?
HEWITT: It's been good. I played two quality players.
Chela is around No. 20 in the world. He's had a
great year so far, especially on this surface. He
knocked off Roddick convincingly last week in Rome.
He's quite confident. Today I felt I stepped it up
another notch on my first round, which was good.
Q: It's sending out a good message for Paris, isn't
it?
HEWITT: Well, last year I felt like I played pretty
well in Paris considering that I played one match and
hurt my ankle and could not finish the match in
Austria. So, I probably could not have any worse
preparation for Paris than I had last year. So,
anything I get this year will be a bonus.
Q: It must be nice to have such a good performance bu
t maybe it is nice just getting matches as well? You
had very few in the last 3 months.
HEWITT: Yes, it is nice. Since pretty much Las Vegas
I was starting to play some good tennis again,
especially in the semis against Safin. I just haven't
been able to get matches, which is frustrating. Last
week in Rome I felt like I actually hit the ball
really well. I was up a set and a break and lost the
second set in the tiebreak. Then had a long rain
delay and could not get it going after that. But I
wasn't that disappointed about last week. I got what
I needed out of it. So this week I came here to try a
nd get a couple of good wins. I had a quite tough
draw first matches. There are no easy matches here.
But it was good to beat both guys straight sets.
Q: Is the back okay?
HEWITT: Yes the back is fine.
Q: We heard you'll get Tony?
HEWITT: I don't know. It's amazing what you guys come
up with.
Q: Obviously you would be interested in a guy of Tony
's quality.
HEWITT: Absolutely. It's something I'll look at. I'm
sure Tony has a lot of things on his mind at the mome
nt. So, down the track I might look at it.
Q: What value has a coach like him?
HEWITT: Roche is a hell of a coach. One of the best
if not the best guy around. I was lucky enough to get
a helping hand by Roche in the Davis Cup squad when
I was extremely young which obviously put me in the
right direction to get to the pinnacle of the sport.
It was a big help.
Q: I know it is risky to comment on other players' af
fairs but were you surprised to hear they separated?
HEWITT: Yes, I guess. You never really know what is
around the corner. I don't know the background and I
don't really want to know either. That's between
Roger and Tony. I just know Tony off the court. It's
hard to find a nice bloke.
Q: The roof coming across after the first set, did
that change the feel and the condition? What that a
factor in his making a comeback in that match?
HEWITT: Not really. Early in the second set, after
the roof came on, I went up to a 3:1 lead and was
trying as well as I was in the first set. He is just
the kind of player, who is going to hang in there and
make a lot of balls. He played a good game to break
me. It wasn't something I was disappointed with. I
had breakpoint to break straight back and go up
another break and was not able to take it. It was a
matter of just hanging in there. Eventually I got it
in the breaker.
Q: You have done all things most players want to do
in their career. But given your experience and
longevity on the Tour, is it harder to set your goals
?
HEWITT: A little bit. I never really pinpointed goals
in my career, even when I first started out. I guess
it was more dreams than anything. You aspire to
Davis Cup, get to No. 1, win a Grand Slam. By the age
of 21 I had all three. You sort of set goals and
it's hard when you have niggling injuries to focus on
where you want to be in 6 months or in a year's time
. I'd love nothing more than to win another Grand
Slam. That's what I am trying to do.
Q: Do you think you've got it in you?
HEWITT: I think so. Right at the moment it's only a
handful of guys that can really contend. Obviously
Nadal is the fovourite at the French Open. The other
3, Roger is the main player at the moment. It's not a
whole lot of guys that can put themselves into the
position to win a Grand Slam. They can contend, but
whether they can actually win it. So, we'll see what
happens.
Q: You practised with Nadal yesterday. How was that?
HEWITT: It was good. He's a standout player on this
surface. The last couple of years Roger is exceptiona
lly good on this surface, but Nadal takes it really
to another level. It's good to get to hit with him.
He's obviously pretty confident at the moment as well
. I feel like I hit the ball well.
Q: Do you have a problem with the weather here in
Germany?
HEWITT: It's alright. I haven't been in Hamburg for
the last 2 years, but always when I've been here,
it's been quite cold. But that's what we put up with.
It's good we've got a roof. People are going to be
playing.
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