Hewitt Thinks Federer’s Career Is Far From Over

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 6th September 2013

Hewitt Thinks Federer’s Career Is Far From Over

epa03842496 Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return to Carlos Berlocq of Argentina during their match on the fourth day of the 2013 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 29 August 2013. The US Open runs through Monday 09 September, a 15-day schedule for the first time. EPA/JASON SZENES |

Over-30 former New York champions Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer go back a long way in the game. And despite exiting relatively early at the US Open, Hewitt has few doubts that his Swiss mate is far from done with a world-beating career which has produced a record 17 grand slam titles.

“Obviously he’s dropped from fourth to seventh (in the ATP rankings),” said two-time grand slam winner Hewitt, ranked 66th and playing again against the odds after a series of foot operations in recent years. “I’ve been in the same situation as him, perhaps not on as great a scale.

“When you’ve been to the top you want to keep playing. The reason you’re playing is for the majors. For me, Davis Cup as well. That’s the reason I’m still playing. For him, I’m sure it’s the majors. I have no doubt about it. He wants to squeeze the absolute most out of him.

“Good on him. If he doesn’t play as many tournaments like he has this year so he can play majors for the next couple years, I think that’s great.”

Hewitt, still one of the sport’s hardest workers at age 32, said that he and Federer got in a massive training session early on at the year’s final major. “We have hit quite a bit the last couple of years, some really good practice sessions.

“I just got in touch with (Federer coach Paul) Annacone seeing if he wanted to hit some balls. Roger was here and wanted to hit at 10 am. We hit for two hours, then another two hours in the afternoon. It was funny, we didn’t do any points at all. We just did drills for four hours.”

Hewitt will be playing for Australia in the Davis Cup World Group playoff against Poland in Warsaw while Federer is back on the practice court to prepare for the autumn indoor season.

Topics: 10sballs, Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer, Tennis, US Open