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March 14, 2004
LLEYTON HEWITT
THE MODERATOR: Lleyton. He's won 13 consecutive matches here. He's 15-1 on the
year. Open it up for questions.
Q. You didn't have such a great start here last year, but you've got to be
pleased with today's performance.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's different than last year in the fact that I was
coming off winning Scottsdale the week before last year. You
know, I didn't get a hit on center court before the tournament
started here. You know, this year I've had pretty good
practice, I guess. But in a lot of ways that can make the
first round a little bit tougher. To go out there, you haven't
played for a couple of weeks in match conditions.
You know, in this kind of setup, the higher seeds get byes
here, Johansson played a match yesterday, and got through in
the conditions we're going to be playing in. You can't take it
lightly at all.
Q. Surprised how easy it went?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it didn't feel that easy out there. You look at the score
line, and you think it's pretty convincing. But I think there
were a lot of tough games out there, some pretty good rallies
out there.
Yeah, Thomas is a tough player. Out of all the non-seeded
players, he'd have to be one of the toughest, I think. For me
to come through in that way, we had a tough match in Rotterdam
a couple of weeks ago, as well, so that probably helped me in
good stead a little bit. I played better I think today than I
did in Rotterdam a couple weeks ago against him.
Q. What was working for you today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Felt like I moved really well. I was pretty consistent. It was
heavy conditions out there. I didn't make a lot of cheap
errors. I felt like I hit my groundstrokes pretty well from
side to side. I had him moving a lot. I mixed up the pace very
well out there tonight.
Yeah, and my serve, I served well in patches, I think, apart
from the last service game.
Q. Do you feel your game has totally come together? You're 15-1 this year, lost
to Ferrero. [sic: Federer]
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I was playing pretty well this time last year, as well.
You know, I came here, obviously won Scottsdale and Indian
Wells here, then I got sick the night before I played in Miami,
lost first round there. You know, won a Davis Cup tie, took a
bit of a break I guess, there before the French Open,
Wimbledon.
Yeah, I feel like I'm playing well at the moment, yeah. As I
said, though, after you take a couple weeks off, you've won a
title, you've got to try to get back into it. It's always going
to take you a match or two to get back into it.
These kind of tournaments, you can't really get off to slow
starts. Best-of-three sets against the best players in the
world right from the word "go." These are tough tournaments to
win.
Q. Talk about the reemergence of Safin, what it does to the mix of people in
the tournament.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Safin fully fit is obviously one of the toughest guys out
there. He's got an all-around game. He's got a lot of power
out there. He can play on all surfaces. We've all seen him at
his best. I think the Australian Open this year, he was pretty
close to his best, I'd say, a couple of those matches towards
the end of the tournament.
He's going to be tough, there's no doubt about it.
Q. As a guy for whom consistency and consistent approach is obviously a virtue
of your game, do you have a hard time identifying with a player like Safin,
whose motivation seems to come in and out, up and down? Do you say, "How can
someone possibly not care all the time"?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really. Everyone's personality is different, I guess.
That's what makes the game so interesting I guess in a lot of
ways. Yeah, you're always going to have those kind of
characters out there, I guess. You know, different
personalities. You know, you look at McEnroe and Borg, totally
different situations, playing styles, strengths and weaknesses,
I guess.
Obviously, Marat, one of his biggest strengths is how hard he
can hit the ball, his power, his all court game. Sometimes the
mental side of it lets him down sometimes.
If you got the whole package, then you'd be winning week in and
week out, I guess. It would be boring for everyone.
Q. What do you think was the turning point in tonight's match?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I was 2-1 down in the first set, saved a couple of breakpoints,
and then ended up getting on a bit of a roll after that game.
I was able to break a couple times and win the first set.
He started pretty well in the second set. I just had to hang
in there. I felt like I was getting enough chances, enough
30-All games on his service games. I felt like it was just a
matter of time before that opportunity would come. And against
the best players in the world, you may only get one, two, three
of those opportunities, you got to be able to take them
straightaway.
Q. I know you need to adapt your game to everyone, but do you find a finesse
player, like Federer, how do you compare the problems he presents to you
with a big-hitter?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, you know, a lot depends I guess on the surface, the court
style, how the conditions are a lot more, as well. Obviously,
a grass court with Federer's kind of style of game, you'd have
to say that suits him probably the best because he's a natural.
He's got an all-court game. He's the best volleyer out there,
in my opinion, at the moment. He has an all-court game which
suits grass.
On other surfaces, though, there's obviously tougher players I
think on clay, guys that have grown up on it. A lot of the
Spanish and Argentinian guys are pretty tough on it. I think
match-ups depend a lot on surfaces.
Q. Does a finesse player of that caliber on grass, is that more problematic
than even like a big server, like Goran?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, he's not so much a finesse, I don't think. He's got a
great serve, I think. He's got a huge forehand - as big a
forehand that's out there, Federer. Sure, he's got great hands,
you know, finesse as well. He's got a great package deal, I
guess.
But he's got a very powerful game out there, as well.
Q. You haven't played Roddick since that 2001 match at The Open. Obviously his
game has probably changed a little since then. Are you sort of looking
forward to maybe seeing how you would measure up now against someone like
Roddick, the challenge, because it's been a while since you've played?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, you know, I'll look forward to it if I've got to play
him. I'm not too worried about him at the moment until -- I
think he's in the other side of the draw this week.
Q. Just in general, though.
LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, there's a lot of tough players out there. There's no
doubt I'm sure that I'm going have to play him whether it's
this year or next year, I'm sure, and probably in a big
tournament at some stage. And there's no doubt that his game's
changed.
But, you know, I still feel like I'd match up well against him.
You know, he's obviously got, you know, big strengths. You got
to try and exploit any weaknesses that he does have, as well.
Q. Kim was quite disappointed she had to pull out. Are you disappointed there's
no chance of a double repeat like last year?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's disappointing anytime one of us has to pull out of
a tournament, I think - especially the situation. She really
obviously enjoys playing here and plays extremely well here.
I don't think it's an easy decision to do because, you know,
you can obviously aggravate the injury a lot more and be out
for a serious period of time. I know there's a lot of players
who have had a similar injury in the last few years, and
they've been out for a while.
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