The following Lleyton Hewitt interview is from his press conference following his 7-6(0), 6-1 victory over Andreas Beck at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.
Q: Pretty solid performance?
HEWITT: Yes, it was good. I obviously never played against him before, really hadn’t seen a lot of him, never practiced with him either. It always takes you a few games to get into a match, especially against a left-hander, as well. I haven’t played a leftie for a while and on a grass court left-hander serves can be quite dangerous. I feel like as the match went on, I gave myself a lot more opportunities on his service games. But he was timing the ball extremely well through that first set, obviously his return of serve is great too.
Q: Decisive point the first one in the tiebreak your forehand longline?
HEWITT: Yes, it was a big point. Obviously I got into the point and had him on the run and came out with a pretty good backhand crosscourt. And then I pulled the trigger along the line and towed it around which was nice. It gave me a little bit of breathing space in the tiebreak.
Q: You’ve seemed to have settled into quite a good rhythm here and in essence you have your grass court game pretty well together, so it seems?
HEWITT: Yes, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at at the moment. You can never expect a whole lot the first week I guess coming straight off the clay court season into the grass court season. So, it’s going to take a couple of matches. I feel I’ve been able to adjust pretty well over the years. I come here with a positive attitude and know what I’ve got to do. I think the more matches you get the better the confidence is going to go up as well.
Q: How is your hip holding up?
HEWITT: It’s holding up well.
Q: How do you feel? Are you able go get back to your strength level of 2002 when you won Wimbledon?
HEWITT: Yes, I think so. I think the game keeps improving as well though. Obviously after me, Roger has taken the game to a new level and Raffa and Roger have taken it to a new level over the last three, four years as well. That’s the motivation to keep improving, to get on the practice court and try to become a better player to keep up with these guys.
Q: So, you’re still young enough to do so?
HEWITT: I hope so. I’m not 30 yet, so I’ve got a bit of time (laughs).
Q: What do you expect of the Football World Cup? Germany and Australia in the same group on Sunday?
HEWITT: Yes, the Germans sound very confident (laughs).
Q: What about the Aussies?
HEWITT: We’ll turn up. It’s the only chance you’ve given us at the moment (laughs). It will be interesting.
Q: Where do you train for the grass season?
HEWITT: For the grass you don’t have much choice. As soon as I was done with the French, I went to London. Obviously I’m lucky enough to be a member of Wimbledon. So, I was hitting on the courts days a couple of days before I came here. But you don’t really have a lot of time to adjust.
Q: Do the Australians follow football as much as the Germans do?
HEWITT: No, nothing compared to the Germans and other European nations. It’s not a No. 1 sport in Australia. It’s obviously every time a World Cup comes around it’s high on the agenda. But obviously most of our players don’t play in Australia too much. The only time we really seem to come together is things like the World Cup.
Topics: Andreas Beck, Backhand, Breathing Space, Clay Court, Court Game, Decisive Point, Forehand, Gerry Weber Open, Grass Court, Left Hander, Leftie, Little Bit, Lleyton Hewitt, Positive Attitude, Raffa, Rhythm, Service Games, Strength Level, Whole Lot, Wimbledon
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