Hewitt: Please Come Back

I remember when I was a tad younger and a little more naive, I watched, what I thought at the time, a tennis legend being born.
The year was 2002 and I was 15 years old. I have not taken much interest in tennis before, so I began to play it at secondary school and became reasonably average. Our tennis club then went on an annual schedule trip to Wimbledon where I grazed my eyes upon Lleyton Hewitt and became an instant fan.
His aggression, his competitiveness, his willingness to battle for everything was truly remarkable and won me over. I did not even mention his highly skilled footwork. A fresh break from Tim Henman to say the least.
Hewitt is classed as a defensive baseline counterpuncher meaning he holds back and very rarely ventures forward. I saw all that, being a fan of the big hitters it was great seeing a man take on experienced men and succeed. He represented youth and was an Andy Murray of his time.
His ability to return serves is first class and he would always get involved in instant rallies, too much delight of the crowd. He provided much enjoyment, his passion always ran riot and playing havoc with umpires. It was known he was disliked in the pro circuit.
He won Wimbledon in 2002 as I eagerly watched it on the tele with my mum when he epically defeated David Nalbandian in the final. It was a tennis moment that has always stuck with me as Hewitt won easily, a flawless 6-1 6-3 6-2 victory.
Hewitt became the first man since Andre Agassi to win the grass court championship by playing as a baseliner. Traditional serve and volley players normally triumph, well that was the days before tennis became a monopoly with main competitors Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer conquering the last six finals.
He started to turn heads the year before in 2001 when Hewitt beat Pete Sampras in straight sets in the US Open. The new kid on the block.
That is why I took to him and began to follow his career.
Unfortunately, he never reached those height again. Only an appearance in the Australian Open in 2005 has been of note.
He has now dropped to a disappointing ranking of 70. Remember this was the man who became the youngster ever man to become the male No. 1 ranked in the world. His career has spiralled. The emergence of arguably the best two players to have ever graced the game may have had something to do with that.
His 70th position is not warranted though as his fall down the ranks have been solely down to the amount of injuries he has been suffering. A hip injury Hewitt acquired in March 2008 has been put down to his underlying injury problems. Despite his ongoing hip trouble, he was able to make moderate success this season, however after a disappointing Olympics campaign where he furthered damaged his hip he understandably chose to opt out the rest of the season.
Hewitt is a player down on his luck, I am hoping for an epic return of a man who feed my passion and enthusiasm for tennis. Still only 27 years old, he may make that comeback yet.

Robson To The Future

As Andy Murray grips the wide spread plaudits that follows him around the world, back home in Britain there is a somewhat unknown talent that could conquer the world.
Laura Robson at a tender age of 14 has won the Wimbledon Girls title this year to propel herself onto the international tennis scene, and since then she has rarely looked back. Embracing tennis with her youthful charms and charisma, this is one ‘Briton’ that the world cannot dislike.
As a fellow Briton, I cannot claim the country that she represents was the birth place of her talents. Robson lived in Australia for the first 18 months of her life before moving to Singapore until she was six.
Well the good old nature versus nurture debate could conclude that her natural talents initially came from her Australian parents. Robson simply became a British Citizen a mere four months before winning the Wimbledon’s girls titles.
It is always useful to see another member of the commonwealth helping their fellow nation out.
Many critics have labelled this as a poor excuse to grab extra earnings in the future. Being the Female British No.1 would be more financially rewarding as opposed to being a small fish in a large pond in comparison in the female Australian tennis circuit.
Before winning at Wimbledon, she has previously won four junior tennis titles as an Australian. Being a patriotic Englishman, I regard Andy Murray as British rather than Scottish (unless he loses) and I regard Robson as British as Only Fools and Horses, Fish and Chips, and the Queen. So before Australians jump on her back, let them remember she is British. Therefore, Britain fortunately have a massive prospect in impede the future of the female’s game.
Her asset is her serve and putting her opponent on the back foot straight from the off. Reaching speeds of 100mph is not rare. Throughout her Wimbledon win, she had served a total of 31 aces in just six matches, although her second serve did not match up as she did suffer 39 double faults in the same space of time. Her aggressive nature gets a sealed approval from the fans as she always aims for match winning strokes. A few times these shots not come off and she does concede quite a few unforced errors.
Being a bit unpredictable and unreliable is common with some so young and so new. It will take a few years for Robson to find herself. Expectations should remain minimal and anything she does achieve should be appreciated. We should not demand too much and not to crowd her with unwanted media attention and escalating amounts of pressure that the British public constantly demands.
Her first appearance of the Women tour inevitably ended in defeat in three sets to Iveta Benesova. It was the case of the number 549th in the world playing the 42nd ranked player in female tennis. A difficult match but Robson never looked out of her debt, which is very encouraging.
Excuse me for the cliché – but every journey begins with a single step. At least, Robson has now started her professional career.