THE STELLA ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Date: 2006-06-17

THE STELLA ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 17, 2006

Lleyton Hewitt
LONDON, ENGLAND

The Moderator Questions for Lleyton, please.

Question What is your view on the line call that everyone's talking about?
Lleyton Hewitt Uhm, you know, from where I was sitting, it was obviously pretty close. I thought it was as much out as in. You know, whether it was in or out, I got no idea a hundred percent.
Obviously, there's always rough line calls. I think grass is probably one of the tougher surfaces to call lines on because some balls are just shooting through that quickly. You know, I felt like there was, you know, a number of line calls today that probably didn't go in my favor either. I guess it just depends during what situation; otherwise, they don't get spoken about.

Question How do you feel you played in the third set coming from a break down?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, not too bad. I felt like I started returning better again. I felt like I won the first set playing pretty good tennis out there. And at the start of the second I had chances to break early and go up a set and a break, and he served well on the big points out there today. And, you know, his serve didn't really go off until a bit later during the third set where I started getting some opportunities on his second serve to put a bit of pressure on him. Up till then, you know, he was hitting his first serve well, and I couldn't try and dictate too much on the return of serve, and he was always the one getting that first hit in.

Question How distracting is it for you, or how easy is it for you, to maintain your concentration when there's bad line calls and referees being called and all that stuff going on?
Lleyton Hewitt It's not easy. It's not easy for anyone, but it's something you got to try and block it out as much as possible. As I said before, there were times during the match where I felt like some calls didn't quite go my way or the way I saw it anyway. That's happened in, you know, most of my matches over the last couple of days, but you got to try and block it out.
As I said, I think grass, it's probably the toughest surface for the umpires to get it right a hundred percent of the time, you know, especially on service lines and that because the ball is coming through so fast on so many of them.
You know, sometimes, you know, whether you see chalk or you see dust fly up, they're two different things. I think sometimes they rely a little bit too much, if you see a puff of something come up, they assume it's chalk. Quite often, it's a bit of dust behind the baseline or whatever.
So, you know, I think it's tough for everyone. I felt like I handled the situation pretty well, though, today.

Question Where do you stand on HawkEye or the use of electronic line calling?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, I don't know. I've never -- it hasn't been something that I think I've been ready to sort of say, Yeah, let's do it all the time. I guess I've been a bit skeptical, you know, as soon as it was announced. I know Federer (indiscernible), a few guys weren't the biggest fans right off. From just my experience in Miami, it felt a little bit Mickey Mouse a couple of times.
I think a lot of players, you sort of exploit it at different times sometimes in matches. You know, I know if it's gonna bring the crowds and, you know, viewing into it more, then that's a positive. But I don't think we should lose what we've got in the game, I guess, and not try and turn it into a sideshow too much.

Question That high ball that you had in the second set then it dropped to just your side of the net, couldn't quite put it away, then you lost your serve, was it that offputting, that particular shot? The crowd suddenly cheers.
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, I wasn't -- well, I didn't lose my serve because of that point. I went down Love-15 and then Tim hit a great point the next point and that put me Love-30. I still got back to 30-All that game, but there was very little I could do about it. I was gonna have an easy volley there, you know, for a second, and then all of a sudden it's clipped the tape and sort of come on to me, you know, pretty quick there.
But it wasn't something that, you know, I didn't feel like I focused or dwelled on it too long out there. You know, I didn't really worry about the next -- the following game. I had breakpoint to break back and wasn't able to take it. It wasn't something that played in my mind too much.

Question How do you see Tim's game a week before Wimbledon? How dangerous might he be as an unseeded player?
Lleyton Hewitt I think his game's pretty good when he puts it all together. Stays confident out there and plays loosely, I guess, you know. Goes for his shots a bit more.
Today I felt like he served extremely well. From the parts that I saw against Tursunov, I don't think he played quite as well as he probably did today in most of it. Seemed like he was giving Tursunov a lot more second serves and chances to hit out there. A guy like Tursunov is going to take those opportunities. Had set point in the second set.
He's going to be definitely one of the most dangerous unseeded players, along with Safin, these kind of guys.

Question Is he going to be a player that for the top players like yourself, if you got him in the first round, you're going to think, "Oh, no"?
Lleyton Hewitt I don't know about that. I think a lot of us would definitely see it as a challenge, you know. The year I won Wimbledon, I played Jonas Bjorkman. I know he's not in the same quite caliber as Henman, but still a tough first round. He just won Nottingham.
Sometimes that kicks you into gear, I guess. You got to concentrate and go out there and play some of your best tennis early on, and sometimes that helps you out later in the tournament.
He's definitely going to be one of the dangerous floaters, that's for sure.

Question If you could look ahead to the possible two finalists. Your record against both of them is heavily weighted in your favor, but they have won on the last occasion. Can you look at the two of them, Roddick and Blake?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, well, no matter which one I play, it's gonna be a tough match. I guess their confidence -- they're confident for different reasons. James, obviously, because he's had such a great year so far and finished the year so well at the end of last year, so he's just naturally playing confident on really any surface at the moment. Whereas Andy, he's sort of getting his confidence back coming on a grass court again, and obviously coming to a place where he's played so well.
You know, they're similar in the fact that, you know, the serve and the forehands are two big areas, and that's what I've got to try and counterattack as much as possible and get as many balls back as possible.
If I go out there with the attitude -- I felt like I was hitting the ball extremely well, especially in the first set there today. If I can play like that, then I'm going to give them a run for their money.

Question Were you surprised at all Mark got a Wimbledon wildcard?
Lleyton Hewitt Uhm, I was only surprised after what you guys told me about Mark got told he wasn't getting one or whatever.
So, you know, I hadn't really thought about it too much, and then obviously I heard that he got one. So, you know, that's great for him, and it makes it a lot easier just to focus obviously on, you know, going out there and, you know, not having to worry about grinding out three qualifying matches, I guess. It's not easy to go and play at Roehampton. Not quite the same situation you find at Wimbledon.

Question Which of the three top Britons would you least like to face at Wimbledon: Murray, Rusedski or Henman?
Lleyton Hewitt I don't know. I'd take my chances against either of them.
But they're all tough in their own way. You know, Greg's obviously dangerous with his lefty serve, you know. It's different to most guys' serves out there on tour.
You know, Murray is going to -- even though his confidence is probably not at the highest level right at the moment, playing your home Grand Slam, you lift.
Tim is probably, obviously out of the three of them, playing the best tennis right at the moment.
So they're all not easy draws, I wouldn't say, for seeded guys early on.

Question Can I just ask you, going back to the qualifying at Roehampton, when was the last year you played there, and what do you remember of it?
Lleyton Hewitt I only played it once in '98. I lost to Nicklas Kulti first round. You know, the courts were pretty average back then. I don't know how much better they are now.
But, you know, it's a hard slog to get through, qualifying out there. You know, I'd say for any guys that qualify, it's a huge satisfaction to get through from playing at Roehampton on some dodgy grass courts to going to play on lush Wimbledon grass courts.

Question Is tomorrow a nice way to be spending Father's Day?
Lleyton Hewitt Is it Father's Day?

Question It's Father's Day here tomorrow.
Lleyton Hewitt Here, oh. Poor me, huh (smiling)?

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