WIMBLEDON
Date: 2005-06-24

WIMBLEDON

June 24, 2005

Lleyton Hewitt
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND
The Moderator Questions.

Question What did you think of Gimelstob's diving?
Lleyton Hewitt Spent more time on the ground than he did standing up, didn't he? Yeah, some of them, you know, I guess were pretty spectacular, but there were others he probably dived a little bit when he could have stood up and made a volley, I guess. Gets the crowd involved. That's the kind of tennis that Justin likes to play. He likes to play high-energy tennis and get the crowd involved. In those situations, you know, you got to take your hat off to the guy who is throwing himself all around the place.

Question How do you (indiscernible) this match with the next match against Dent?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, very similar. Taylor's going to be the same sort of player. You know, Justin served extremely well today. That at least gave me a look at what I'm going to face on Monday. You know, I've just got to get mentally right to return well and go out there and believe in my passing shots and play a solid match from the back of the court, as well.

Question How pleased are you so far with your form? Is it coming along nicely?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah. I can definitely still play. It's nice to be in the fourth round now. Especially the last two matches, there's been a lot of tight points out there, which is what I need when I haven't played a lot of matches. In that respect, it's been good that I've had to come up and play some big points, especially against Justin in the first-set tiebreak today. When it really counted I was able to lift another notch. That's what you're going to have to need when you have to face guys like Federer, Taylor Dent, these kind of guys in the next round. That preparation's definitely been good so far.

Question What do you got on for the weekend?
Lleyton Hewitt Don't know. Just practice and, you know, keep the timing up. It's a little bit strange having two days off in the middle of a Slam. But, yeah, it's just a matter of keeping your focus there, you know, keep the timing going, you know. I can have a good hit out tomorrow.

Question Is there a part of you that would rather get the Monaro and go for a drive and forget about tennis for a while?
Lleyton Hewitt No, no, I'm not here to do that.

Question Does the weather have anything to do with the way you played? Would you say you adjust to it better than other players or not? The warm weather here, does it make conditions that much different?
Lleyton Hewitt Not really that much, I don't think. The courts -- Centre Court was definitely playing a lot quicker and harder today than Court 1 in my first two matches. But that's always going to happen. Obviously, with the weather, it's definitely helped. Yeah, it's always going to happen the more that play gets played on these match courts, especially the show courts. It's going to get roughed up a bit, quicker, the ball's going to be shooting through a lot more.

Question You said the first week is a survival week. You pick it up in the second week. How much do you think you'll need to pick your game up next week?
Lleyton Hewitt Well, at the moment, I'm just worrying about Taylor Dent. I'm not looking any further than that. I still feel like I got to play better to guarantee myself a win against Taylor. I've got to play better again because he's capable of playing very good tennis, and he can sustain it over five sets, especially on a grass court. Yeah, I feel like I can definitely go up a notch or two, though.

Question The British media put heaps of pressure on players like Henman, Rusedski. They're out. They're also making Murray the new king of Wimbledon. Do you feel you get similar pressure now that you've won a few slams? Do you think the Australian media put the same sort of pressure on you?
Lleyton Hewitt I don't know about pressure. I think you're in the spotlight the whole time. I think what Henman's had over the last, you know, eight years or so now, it's been pretty amazing. The whole country really stops for him every time he steps on the court here at Wimbledon. It's amazing. It's like the British people forget that there's another three majors out there, as well, that Tim made a semi in two of them last year as well. I reckon Tim's a great guy and I think he's done a hell of a job handling the situation. I think his record speaks for itself here, to be that consistent. But obviously in Australia, I feel, especially now that we don't have so many guys like the Rafters, Philippoussises up there in the Top 10 any more, then obviously the eyes, especially this year, were all on me. I felt like I handled it pretty well.

Question What about the Dent name in Australian tennis? What does it mean there?
Lleyton Hewitt Well, not a whole heap when he's got USA written at the end of his name. Not a whole heap.

Question What about Phil?
Lleyton Hewitt It's hard to say. I don't know enough about Phil as a player. I know all the -- he's very good mates with JA, a lot of the older guys who have played Davis Cup for Australia. But for me, he's been in America for such a long time, I've had nothing to do with him.

Question Is somebody like Taylor Dent the perfect next match for you in the sense that he's a dangerous player, probably not Federer, but he's the next rung up the ladder for you in your development in the course over the next two weeks?
Lleyton Hewitt In some ways, yeah. But I've had a lot of tough matches with Taylor in the past. I'm going to be, you know, ready to go mentally as soon as I get out on the court against him. Yeah, he's a tough competitor. He's not going to give me too many cheap points out there. He's obviously got a great serve-and-volley game. He's going to keep coming at me all day. A few years ago we played a tight five-setter here, which, you know, was a pretty memorable match. I'm going to have to work just as hard as I did that day if I'm going to get over the line.

Question Do you have a look during the tournament at how the others are playing? Have you looked at Federer's games, taken account of his form?
Lleyton Hewitt No, I haven't watched any of the Rodge.

Question You lost to Taylor at the very start of the year at Adelaide. Can you take anything out of that in terms of his style, anything he may have had up his sleeve?
Lleyton Hewitt Yeah, I won't take a whole heap out of that. Yeah, obviously he played extremely well that whole week, you know, made the final there. I had a lot of opportunities in that match and wasn't able to take them. Lead a break early in the second set, I think. Just wasn't quite timing the ball as well as I did the next three weeks in Sydney and the Australian Open. That's obviously where I wanted to be, you know, hitting my strokes a bit more in Melbourne. Yeah, this is a Grand Slam. This is over five sets. So, you know, it will be a little bit different.

Question Having won here before, do you ever get in a situation where you feel as if it's on, the title is on this year, or is it literally you never know till you've won the next match?
Lleyton Hewitt There's so many dangerous players out there, you can't look -- everyone has a go at all the players or athletes for saying "One match at a time." You literally have to look at it that way. Yeah, and I've been on the hand of upsets. Lost some upsets when I've been the favored player before. You can't just look too far ahead in these tournaments. Yeah, that's something that I think you learn, to really pace yourself over five sets, especially when you're playing Grand Slams and you're experienced at that.

Question When you see people like Safin losing, potential winner, Henman is out, does that mean anything to you or do you just have to concentrate on your opponents?
Lleyton Hewitt No, there's not a whole heap I can worry about, especially guys like Henman or Roddick. They're on the other half. There's no point in me even worrying about it right at the moment. Obviously, Safin was in my quarter. But Feliciano Lopez, I knew that was going to be an extremely tough match for Marat on this surface. Big left-handed serve, he's probably going to play Ancic in the next round. Yeah, there's a reason. Every match that you get to, there's a reason why you're playing that opponent. They've obviously done something right to get that far. That's the way you've got to look at it.

Question How does your form compare to 2002 when you won here?
Lleyton Hewitt It's hard to say. I think I played a lot of matches before I won it in 2002. Obviously, I was on autopilot a little bit, I think especially throughout the first week. Yeah, it's hard to say. The match-ups have been probably a little bit different, as well, in terms of the guys that I've played against early in the tournament. Yeah, I can't -- I won't look at it in the same pattern, I guess.

Question How did the number of dives by Gimelstob in this match compare with other opponents you've ever faced?
Lleyton Hewitt I've never seen someone dive more, yeah.

Question Did you watch the cricket at all?
Lleyton Hewitt Yesterday, I saw a little bit yesterday.

Question Inspiring?
Lleyton Hewitt Well, is funny, no one brings it today, do they? All the POMs have gone back in their shells.

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