Recovering Hewitt looking forward to Wimbledon
June 11th, 2008LLEYTON Hewitt hopes his lack of recent match practice will prove an unexpected advantage against his rivals at Wimbledon.
The Australian No. 1 did not have a claycourt season to speak of, apart from reaching the French Open third round, where he lost to surface specialist and world No. 5 David Ferrer and slipped two spots to No. 30 in the world rankings.
But thanks to an intensive routine of physiotherapy on his troublesome hip and a willingness to play through the pain at the big tournaments, Hewitt is having competitive hitouts when it matters.
With Wimbledon starting in two weeks, 2002 champion Hewitt made a flawless start to his bid for a fifth Queen’s Club title with a 6-4, 6-4 first-round victory over British wildcard Joshua Goodall.
Hewitt is also joining compatriot Chris Guccione, a 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5 winner over Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu, in the doubles at Queen’s.
While he is eager and raring to go, he anticipates some others may be starting to drag their feet a little.
“Probably by Wimbledon, some of the other guys could have played a lot of matches on the clay and, yeah, be a little bit tired, I guess, after a long claycourt stretch, then going into another grand slam two weeks after the French,” Hewitt said.
“Wimbledon’s one of my favourite tournaments of the year, if not my favourite.
“I love this month of the year. I always go in with a good attitude as well, which helps.”
Hewitt admitted that if it was not for his beloved Wimbledon, he would not be playing any grasscourt tennis this year on account of his hip injury, especially as he had difficulty walking after his close five-setter against Ferrer. “I would have liked to have got the injury right 100% before I came back,” he said. “But I don’t like missing majors, that’s why I’m still playing tennis, for the big tournaments.
“The small tournaments don’t mean that much to me. To go out there and play in the French Open, fantastic atmosphere again, that’s what I play for.”
Guccione rates himself a much better player 12 months after he reached the second round at Queen’s and Wimbledon. Then ranked in the 90s, he is now at No. 79.
“I’m serving better, volleying better,” he said.
Australian qualifier Joseph Sirianni also reached the second round at Queen’s with a 6-3, 6-3 win over British wildcard Alex Bogdanovic.
AAP
