Lleyton Hewitt Awarded Shanghai Wild Card

Written by: Staff on 23rd September 2012

Lleyton Hewitt Awarded Shanghai Wild Card

epa03399775 Australia's Lleyton Hewitt returns the ball during the individual match against Germany's Stebe during the Davis Cup match between Germany and Australia at the Rothenbaum tennis stadium in Hamburg, Germany, 16 September 2012. EPA/MARCUS BRANDT |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/09/Feature/Shanghai-Hewitt-Wild-Card.aspx)

Former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt has been awarded the first wild card into the 2012 Shanghai Rolex Masters. The award-winning Shanghai Rolex Masters will be played at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center, 7-14 October.

Currently ranked World No. 101 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, the 31-year-old Hewitt has made yet another tremendous come back from surgery and continues to show his great fight and determination on the world’s tennis courts.

“We had no hesitation in awarding Lleyton a wild card when he asked for it,” Tournament Director Michael Luevano said. “Shanghai tennis fans will remember the outstanding run he had here in 2002 when he won the year-end championship which was then known as the Tennis Masters Cup.

“That year he defeated Albert Costa, Marat Safin, Roger Federer in the semis and then Juan Carlos Ferrero in a gripping five-set final. That incredible spirit has never left him no matter how many times he has been forced to make comebacks after injuries and surgeries.

“Lleyton held the World No.1 ranking for 80 weeks and was a winner of Wimbledon and the US Open, and I have no doubt fans at the Shanghai Rolex Masters will be thrilled to see Lleyton in action once again at Qi Zhong Tennis Center.”

This will mark the third time Hewitt will be playing in Shanghai. Other than in 2002, he was also at the first Shanghai Rolex Masters in 2009 when he defeated John Isner in the first round before being stopped by Gael Monfils.

The Shanghai Rolex Masters, which was voted the past three years as the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 “Tournament of the Year,” is the only such event in Asia. It will once again be hosting the best of the best, including two-time defending champion, Olympic Gold medallist and new US Open champion Andy Murray, winner of a record 17 Grand Slam titles Roger Federer, five-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and last year’s finalist and Davis Cup hero David Ferrer.

Tickets for the Shanghai Rolex Masters are available from the ticket hotline: +86-21-962123 or online.

Topics: Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Qi Zhong Tennis Center, Roger Federer, Shanghai Rolex Masters, Shanghai tenni snews, Sports, Tennis News