“10s Whenever” Newsletter Vol. 135

Written by: Staff on 18th February 2014

"10s Whenever" Newsletter Vol. 135

epa04075665 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia waves after defeating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in their second round match in the US National Indoor Tennis Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 13 February 2014. EPA/TANNEN MAURY |

Lleyton Hewitt enjoys Greg Norman’s Support by Richard Evans from Delray Beach

Greg Norman turned up at the Delray Beach Open to support his former caddy and Lleyton Hewitt did not disappoint the Great White Shark, getting his jaws into Bradley Klahn to win 6-3, 6-1.

“I was No 1 in the world when I caddied for Greg so it was a long time ago,” Hewitt laughed afterwards. “But he lives up the road and it was great to have him come and lend an Aussie some support.”

Disappointingly for a crowd basking in one of those blue sky & fluffy white cloud days in Florida, Klahn could not put up much of a fight. That, in itself, is a worry for American tennis because the 23-year-old from Poway, California is now the third ranked US player on the ATP ranking at No 66. The problem lies with the fact that Klahn has earned almost all his points on the Challenger circuit, where he has won numerous titles. But this is a step up. And it’s a big one.

“Bradley’s got a great forehand, pretty much world class,” said Hewitt. “But his backhand needs a bit of work and his serve blows hot and cold. I’d hardly seen him play so I had to work him out for a bit.”

Not, however, for long. Hewitt, who will turn 33 next week, was striking the ball well and, more importantly for this much injured campaigner, he was moving well. Soon he was attacking Klahn’s backhand at will and getting in to put away volleys.

“Frankly, I think there are too many points offered in Challengers,” Hewitt said. “It pushes your ranking way up.”

The Australian talked of his own fight back from injury and said how pleased he was to have started the year by winning Brisbane with a victory over Roger Federer in the final. “I had never won in Brisbane before so it was a thrill,” he said. “It gave me a lot of confidence.”

Despite that win over Federer, Hewitt cautioned against writing off some of the Top4 who have dominated the game for so many years. “Roger is still playing well and has stayed clear of any bad injuries. He still has a shot at Wimbledon. And Andy Murray is only out of the top four because he has had back surgery. He’ll be back up there.”

As is the norm these days, the Delray field is largely populated by players over twenty five, with many well into their thirties. The top seed, Tommy Haas, is 35 and Hewitt had kind words for him, too. “Got to take my hat off to Tommy,” he said. “To get back to No 12 in the world, playing the best tennis of his career, is a great effort. When he had so many injuries all those years ago, I thought he was done. But it just shows you.”

Hewitt could have been talking about himself.

Steve Johnson carried the flag for the younger generation of Americans by beating Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-3 but Tim Smyczek, currently the fourth highest ranked American, could not build on a good first set against the new Delray Beach resident, Kevin Anderson, and went down 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 to the big serving South African.

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