LLEYTON HEWITT March 15, 2004
Q. I saw you go 3-Love up, decided to watch something else, came back, saw you
win the second set, saw your breakpoints in the first game. I couldn't
understand the final score.
LLEYTON HEWITT: It was a bit like that, wasn't it (smiling)?
Yeah, there was a lot of momentum changes out there. I felt
like I hit the ball well early on. You know, I came out very
aggressive right from the start. Had a chance to go 4-Love
up. You know, didn't feel like I played too bad a game. I
felt like he didn't miss a lot of balls out there today.
It's extremely heavy with the balls out there, you know, to
play a guy like that. You know, it's a big change from when
you get new balls, and then probably a game or so, you know,
even after you change balls because, you know, they're very
heavy, it's hard to hit winners, especially against a guy
like that. He's standing a couple of meters behind the
baseline and running everything down.
Q. He was finding corners very well, wasn't he?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He played well. He didn't make too many mistakes. He
definitely didn't make any easy mistakes anyway. He chased
a lot of balls down. Yeah, even when I felt like I had him
on a stretch a couple of times, he came up with good defensive
shots, I guess the kind of shots you learn to play when you
grow up on clay.
Q. Are you feeling a little bit shell-shocked by it?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not really shell-shocked, I don't think. Yeah, I'd seen him
play tough matches in the past. You know, he's beaten
Roddick. He's had a couple of tough matches with Roddick
since then, as well. Yeah, I've seen him play.
He's always had reasonable results on a hard court. And this
kind of hard court I'd say suits him the best. With, you
know, the balls fluffing up a lot out there, making it slower
out there for him, as well.
Q. You're usually so quick about court. Today it didn't seem it was quite
you sometimes. You didn't seem to be moving quite as rapidly or off the
mark as you usually do. Any reason for that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I felt a little bit heavy out there today, just running
around. I don't know if it was my first match out in the heat
for a while. You know, obviously I played a night match the
other night. Haven't played outdoors for a while.
Whether that's got something to do with it. You know, it's
hot conditions out there today. Yeah, I did feel, yeah, a
little bit heavy out there, yeah.
Q. How much slower is the court from last year?
LLEYTON HEWITT: A fair bit slow. You know, I don't know if it's all the
court, though. I think it's got a lot to do with the balls.
The balls, they're getting worse and worse by the week.
Q. Physically there's nothing wrong?
LLEYTON HEWITT: No, no. I'm fine.
Q. If you don't feel shell-shocked, how are you feeling? What are you feeling?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm actually happy with how I hit the ball. I felt like I hit
the ball well out there today. I felt like I timed the ball
well, I just didn't take my chances when I had them.
Obviously, if you're 3-Love up, you have a chance to go 4-Love
up, you'd like to think you're going to get that set.
You know, if you're getting that, I had Love-40 in the first
game of the third set, Love-30, Love-30, next two games.
Even 5-1, I had Love-30, 15-40. Had a lot of chances, wasn't
able to capitalize on it. Against these guys, you have to be
able to capitalize on them.
Q. Kind of a crapshoot from week to week? You find out what it is when you
get there?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, a little bit. Obviously, a little bit's got to do with
the court as well, how much it's chopping the ball up. But I
think the majority definitely has got to do with, you know,
the ball and how it's made.
Q. How big of a disappointment is this for you, going out in the early round?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it's disappointing, you know. But, you know, I'd like
to think there's lot bigger matches, you know, around the
corner for me. As I said, you know, I felt like I was
actually hitting the ball well. In practice, I've been
hitting the ball well. In all my matches this year, I've
played pretty good.
So, you know, it's disappointing to go out. But, you know,
he had to play one of his best matches I think to beat me out
there today.
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