WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS
Date: 2007-08-16

WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 16, 2007

Lleyton Hewitt
CINCINNATI, OHIO
The Moderator Questions, please.

Question Looked like you were playing pretty well today and moving him around. How did you feel out there today?
Lleyton Hewitt Not too bad. I think physically it's a tough match out there for everybody. You just got to hang mentally tough out there and not let the weather and the heat effect you at all.
Still stay sharp and take your time when you can and stay well hydrated I guess as well. I felt pretty fresh.

Question How can the weather affect you in heat like this?
Lleyton Hewitt It makes you go for wrong shot selections more times I think because you're trying to finish the point off, you know, because it is so hard to keep playing long rallies in these kind of situations. You really have to pick and choose the right ones to go for then.

Question You'll be glad to know that Carlos Moya had a tough three-setter today. You play him tomorrow. Can you just talk about playing him again?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah. We have played some big matches in the past in big tournaments. He's been playing some of his best tennis this year. He's had a very solid year: One title and he's made finals. Yeah, it's going to be a tough challenge.
The guys he's beaten so far this week are pretty good players, so it's going to be a tough match.

Question What do you make of his career? He had a couple down years in '05 and '06, but certainly looks as good as he has in a while.
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, he has been. He did have some injuries there for a while as well. Niggling injuries. I know how that's been the last couple of years. It's hard when you can't get on that roll. You're used to playing so many matches and come out and play a couple tournaments here and there and have some small injuries, it's not easy. He's a classy player and he's a big match player as well.

Question It's been a while, but what do you remember from the final here in 2002?
Lleyton Hewitt Not a lot. I made a final after that here as well. It was a pretty tight match, though. Break in one set and then a tiebreak I think to finish. So it was a little bit unlucky not to win it, but I think sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don't.

Question How have things changed for you tennis-wise since you got married and had a daughter from when you were single maybe and at the top of your game?
Lleyton Hewitt Tennis-wise it hasn't changed much at all. I still get on the practice court and do all the things that need to do prepare as well as possible.
Travel-wise and, you know, stuff like that maybe changed a little bit more. But in terms of hitting the ball and going to the gym and doing all the preparation I need to do it's all the same.

Question Do you look at things differently now that you have a daughter?
Lleyton Hewitt Not so much tennis-wise, I don't think.

Question How about off the court?
Lleyton Hewitt Probably of the court, yeah, a lot of things change. She's obviously, with my wife, they're my priorities. They always come first. When you're single and by yourself, you know, a teenager, there are a lot of other things you worry about.

Question Is your game as good now as it was a few years ago, or are you still going up or have you leveled off?
Lleyton Hewitt Some days it's pretty good. Every day is different. But, yeah, I feel like since Hamburg I've been hitting the ball pretty well. Guys I've lost to have been in the top couple of players in the world, so they've probably been the three stand-out players.
So in terms of that I feel like I'm taking care of what need to do. Just need to get back on that roll and play a lot matches and getting back to the business end of the big tournaments again.

Question How have you felt so far in this tournament? Do you feel like you were playing the tennis that you wanted to today or were you just doing whatever you had to do to get through the heat and win the match?
Lleyton Hewitt I played pretty good. After going down an early break I played pretty solid for the rest of the match. I served well. I put pressure on his serve. You know, made him go for a few bail out shots when he didn't want to rally, which was good with the circumstances in the weather conditions out there today.