The Hindu : Sport : Lleyton Hewitt determined to end Roger Federer's dominance

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Friday, Jul 01, 2005

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Lleyton Hewitt determined to end Roger Federer's dominance

Nirmal Shekar

PUMPED UP: Lleyton Hewitt will need to be at his best when he meets defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals on Friday. — Photo: AP

London: Twenty five years ago, after finally solving a seemingly unsolvable puzzle, the late Vitas Gerulaitis, a dashing playboy who was one of the leading members of the dazzling supporting cast in the golden era of Borg, Connors and McEnroe, declared: "Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.''

Jimmy Connors, as they say, had Gerulaitis' number and the flamboyant free spirited man had lost 16 times in a row to the greatest street fighter in the history of tennis. Then came that solitary victory in 1980 which brought forth one of the most frequently quoted lines in sports.

In terms of his personality, Lleyton Hewitt is the very anti-thesis of Gerulaitis and he is as likely to lose to anybody 16 times in a row as he is to follow his serve to the net that many times in succession at Wimbledon.

Seven-in-a-row

But, on Friday, the 2002 champion will step into the court for his semifinal match aware of one little statistic — the man he would play, Roger Federer, has beaten him the last seven times they have played, Hewitt's last victory over the Swiss meister coming in a Davis Cup semifinal match on hardcourt in 2003.

As head-to-head mastery goes, that may not rank alongside Connors' domination of Gerulaitis but in few other one-on-one sports would you find the No. 2 player going winless against the No. 1 player for that long. After all, for all his genius, Federer has not really been invincible and he is yet to win a Grand Slam title this year.

In the event, what has prevented Hewitt from making a dent in the Federer armoury for two long years? Obviously, the domination cannot be mental; for, there is no active player who is mentally tougher than Hewitt in the men's game. The Australian would have certainly fancied his chances each time he went out to play the World champion. Yet, he has failed to halt that depressing sequence of losses.

"I have lost to him the last couple of years, last six or seven times, but it's all been in the last two years or so when he's really dominated pretty much everyone,'' Hewitt said on Wednesday. "He has taken his game to another level in the last couple of years.''

Not invincible

However exalted that level may be, players such as Marat Safin and Rafael Nadal, to name only two, have managed to prove that Federer is not really invincible and the World champion has not cleaned up any top five player quite like he has done against Hewitt.

"I have never lost seven consecutive matches I think against any player,'' said Federer. "Maybe four or, maximum, five I reckon. I don't know how it is. (But) I think on grass anything can happen. He (Hewitt) knows how to win the title here. I think it is a tough match ahead of me.''

The point is, there are times when a top player's game appears tailor-made to play second fiddle to another's. And Hewitt's blue collar tennis, even when played at a level of intensity not witnessed since Connors left the game, is simply not good enough to make an impression on the regal authority of Federer's game.

"You've got to believe in yourself. I believe I am capable of winning the match,'' said Hewitt. "It is not going to be easy, and I've got to play one of my best matches. But, you know, I believe that I can do it.''

Surely, the Australian will need all the belief he can muster to come through a contest that presents a fascinating contrast of styles.

One man is a picture of fidgety restlessness, tugging back over his ears the tiny coils of hair popping out of a cap worn back to front, glaring at the opponent as if he has never hated anyone that much in his entire life, chasing balls as if his life depended on getting them back across the court, fiddling with the strings of his racquet and pumping himself up with an atavistic frenzy after winning points.

Hewitt is an all-action man whose game is a synonym for effort. Every point is painfully won, every set wrested out of the grasp of the opponent after climbing a mountain, so to say.

Hewitt's semifinal opponent, on the other hand, makes you believe that winning tennis matches is a rather simple thing. But, then, so would you think painting is when you first set eyes on a Van Gogh canvas. There lies Federer's greatness. The gifted Swiss, with his effortless style, makes you believe that the impossible is not only possible but is within reach of all of us — which, of course, is pure illusion.

Consummate ease

Federer does with consummate ease what Hewitt cannot hope to accomplish with monumental effort. And he wants this title badly after having failed, by his standards, in Melbourne and Paris.

"I have many goals,'' he said the other day. An immediate one would be to become one of a handful of players who have won Wimbledon three times in a row.

The last man to do that — and he did it twice — was Pete Sampras, whose fourth title in a row was his seventh overall, in the year 2000.

With rain falling steadily on Thursday, BBC broadcast a documentary on one of the most unforgettable chapters in Wimbledon history — the Pete Sampras Era.

Boris Becker, who twice lost to Sampras here, once in a final and the next time in a quarterfinal, had this to say about his American rival in the programme: "I always went out to play thinking if I played my best I can beat anyone. With Pete, I lost that feeling.''

Hewitt knows that he, too, can beat anyone on any day when he is playing at his best. But, if he does not stop the Swedish juggernaut on Friday, the Australian, much like Becker, might lose the very feeling that makes him a competitor to reckon with.

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