Share this story!            

I am no Australian Open choker: Hewitt

SYDNEY: Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt denied he had a history of choking in his home grand slam tournament on Monday and brushed aside suggestions world number one Roger Federer had a psychological stranglehold over him.

World number three Hewitt said he was intent on improving his poor record in next week’s Australian Open, where he has never made it past the fourth round. Speaking at the Sydney International warm-up tournament, where he is top seed, the former Wimbledon and US Open champion denied pressure to become the first local to win the Australian Open since Mark Edmondson in 1976 was weighing on his preparation. He said there were valid reasons for his recent early exits from the Melbourne tournament an in-form Federer last year, a “freak” performance by Morocco’s Younes el Aynaoui in 2003 and a bout of chickenpox in 2002.

“I’ve played enough big matches in Australia that the pressure of playing in Australia doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. Hewitt lost to Federer five times in 2004, including a defeat in the US Open final and early exits from the Australian Open and Wimbledon. He said he was not allowing the losses to play on his mind, particularly as the Swiss player had “taken the game to another level” in the past 18 months. “It doesn’t beat you up, especially as there’s no shame right now in losing to Roger, he’s a hell of a player and he’s going to go down as one of the greatest,” Hewitt said. The Australian said he would concentrate on getting past the fourth round of the Open then consider the challenge posed by Federer when the time came.

“To come out and just think that you’ve got to worry about Roger Federer, then at the end you probably won’t get to have a crack at him anyway,” he said. Hewitt faces Slovakian Karol Beck on Tuesday and said he was looking forward to a hit out ahead of the Melbourne tournament. “I’ll hopefully come here and get some matches under my belt and try to get on a roll going into Melbourne,” he said. Swede Thomas Johansson was the highest profile player in action Monday. The tournament seventh seed beat Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-2, 7-5 their first round match. Australian wildcard Wayne Arthurs beat Filippo Volandri of Italy 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. In the women’s draw, Chinese qualifier Shuai Peng defeated American Moshona Washington in straight sets and Bulgarian veteran Magdalena Maleeva overcame initial resistance from Australian youngster Sophie Ferguson to triumph 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. afp

Home | Sport

Share this story!