Word: hewitt
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...doubt it," says Adam Anderson, a former touring pro and now Sydney-based coach. Though he praises him for his achievements, Anderson wonders whether Hewitt was perhaps the weakest No. 1 of the past 15 years, having seized the mantle in the vacuum left by Sampras' decline. With the huge-serving Roddick and the gifted shot-makers Federer and Ferrero now close to their peaks, the return path for Hewitt looks rocky. And because a lower ranking means tougher tournament draws, Hewitt will have to play well just to hold his position, let alone improve it. "He's trying...
...Hewitt doubters cite the precedent of the nuggetty Chinese-American Michael Chang. At the French Open in 1989, at the age of 17, Chang became the youngest man to win a grand slam title. But though he spent seven years in the Top 10 and retired only last August, he never won another one. Chang's game was built on the same pillars as Hewitt's: reliable, though not explosive, groundstrokes, a terrier's speed and tons of grit. Chang's problem - and for a while last year it looked like Hewitt's problem, too - was that grinding out matches...
Even if he's as spry as ever, Hewitt is still in trouble, argues Anderson. Against bigger, more powerful players like Roddick, his brick-wall style doesn't cut it any more. "Lleyton's game has to move with the trends of tennis," says Anderson, "and today's trend is to whack the absolute hell out of the ball...
...really changed so much that it can no longer accommodate players of all shapes and styles? "Lleyton's a more complete player than Chang was," argues John Alexander, who suspects weariness and injuries were what hurt the Australian, along with a playing style that became too conservative - a flaw Hewitt seems to have corrected. "People tend to talk about power - about serving and forehands - and they're the fashionable things to talk about," says Hewitt's childhood coach, Peter Smith. "I always felt that Lleyton had qualities that others didn't notice, subtle qualities they couldn't measure...
...Hewitt's father Glynn challenges the idea that his son had a poor 2003: Hewitt had made helping Australia win the Davis Cup a priority, and beat both Federer and Ferrero late last year in the process of doing just that. Australian Open chief executive Paul McNamee says he expects one player to stamp himself during 2004 as the undisputed No. 1. He leans toward Federer, but says Hewitt could be the one. In any event, he adds, "it would be ludicrous to suggest Hewitt can't make it back to at least...