Hewitt had a 10-9 head to head against Agassi/Sampras combined. He was beating them as a teenager and they weren't even that old. They were still in their 20s for the most part. I know a lot of fans on the internet only started watching tennis after the big 3 came along but this guy was a warrior and a rare talent and deserves respect. I think Aussies for the most part would know but others may not realise how many injuries and surgeries this guy had on his foot and hip during his mid-20s. At one stage he consulted 7 surgeons about an issue with his toe, had to put screws and a plate in it and even burned the nerve endings to stop the pain. None of that worked so he had to get the toe fused together and was told he would never play tennis again. He did and got to finish his career on his own terms, even beating Federer in his last match against him. Just because he doesn't have 20 Grand Slams doesn't mean wasn't a great champion, there were amazing players before the big 3 and there will be afterwards too.
Exactly. About Hewitt, Federer said: "He was the one that really started it all. He was the one that showed us how to do it." I think Fed was talking about the mental game, not anything technical.
That last point is my favourite point ever. That shot of Federer smiling as he was running down the last ball... at that moment it was more than just a competition. Both players loved the game and had captured the spirit of it. Beautiful to watch.
Lleyton was the transition between the 90´s and the modern game. The determination to win, court coverage and counter attacking tennis was new in the game, back in the day. Lacking the consistence trough the whole season, but winning enough points to finish N1 two years in a row, he was a legend. His hip, besides Federer´s new era, marked the end of his peak-game. He brought to the game the "c´mon!!" with the swedish gesture "the vight". His trademark. Nor Federer, Djokovic, Alcaraz or whoever could yell c´mon like Lleyton used to. You could love him or hate him, but never went unnoticed. He didnt have to "create" a personality to be marketeable like many top players, he was like that since forever.
I remember someone saying that one of the reasons so many players found him so difficult was because of the three quarters type of pace he often hit at. It wasn't hard enough to rebound the pace back at him, and not soft enough to take advantage of, and it wrecked a lot of players' timing because they were so used to heavier pace coming at them. It took the players a while to figure him out - notably Roger Federer, who lost 7 of his first 9 matches against Hewitt.
There were and are other players using the same strategy: Gilles Simon, Andy Murray and in more recent years Daniil Medvedev. It often looks a bit like cheating :-p as it is a low risk thing to do with high reward. But then again, if it is easier to do, then why doesn't everyone do it? ;-)
It didnt take time for Fed to figure Hewitt out,it had nothing to do with that. Fed was mentally weak in his early days ,also his game wasnt developed enough. Once he got to his level,he wooped Hewitt's a$$ regularly. Slam final.60 76 60
That's kinda disingenuous to Hewitt by just referring to him as a "fast Aussie". He was dominant in the early 2000s, way more successful than De Minaur has ever been.
His backhand was his weapon. It did all the heavy lifting. He did everything possible with that backhand. Lob, chip, drive, drop shot, volley. Took the ball early or late. Spin or flat. You name it.
Thank you 👍. Someone who gets it. They act like ball " pace" is the be all end all weapon. Layton was a wall with all the backhand qualities you said. Plus fitness and a tad crazy .
What an athlete! And very clever and highly skilled. Most of all, he played with the heart of a lion. I am happy to have finally seen a glimpse of Leyton’s career. Count me as a fan!
and chang...he was a slider. chang and hewitt had similar guts. the hewitt lob is the most under rated shot in tennis - that thing he would pull out of nowhere and make players look stupid...
One of the most impactful players ever. He was the first player who had both the returning and the court coverage to counter serve & volley. Sampras saw the writing on the wall at the 2001 USO.
Right before Federer's era began, Hewitt came around and surely made his mark👍It's suck that injuries ruined his career, but still, you can't deny the fact that he is an amazing player: he managed to win 2 Slams, 2 ATP Finals, 1 Master and remained the Youngest World No.1 for 20 years (up until Alcaraz broke this record in 2022)⭐
He doesn’t get enough credit for how clean a hitter he was. He was fast, obviously, but there were other guys of comparable speed. They couldn’t effortlessly redirect pace or consistently thread passing shots on the full run, though.
Youngest prime ever. Peaked with 21(when many players are still on the rise) and then faded away. Capitalized best in the phase between prime Pete and prime big 3 eras.
Lleyton Hewitt is an absolute champion of the game and more than deserves his place in the Hall of Fame. His speed on court matched the sharpness of his mind, knowing when to hold back and when to go on the attack. As demonstrated in this video, Hewitt possessed an unbelievable ability to propel himself to every ball, which meant players had to work hard to get him off balance. Unfortunately, like a lot of injury-prone players, Hewitt was robbed of what should have been his peak, but even then, I think his accomplishments at the turn of the century, being the youngest number 1 of all time (until Alcaraz), his mental fortitude and longevity despite a torrid run of injuries, I would say he's somewhere in the 20 to 30 bracket on the all-time list. He'd be ahead of many of his contemporaries at the time, including Kuerten, Roddick and Safin (arguably, given he also experienced a bad run of injuries that, like Hewitt, prevented him from achieving any more than he did).
What 'robbed' Hewitt was his inability to change his game. It didn't take long for other players to work him out and once they did, he was on a downward trajectory.
Lleyton Hewitt was always one of my favorites. I love his big time celebration - and when the Australian commentators go: "Ah yeahhh! And Lleyton's got the lawn-mowa going!"
One of the biggest cheat codes hewitt used was standing up on or inside the baseline cutting out the time the bug hitters had to react and swing through. Keeping them off balance with shorter backswing. Basically the De minaur game you see today.
Hewitt had it all deep, reliable ground strokes from the back of the court, superb volleys, an incredible lob, inside out forehand, cross court forehand and a warrior's spirit that never gave in. Everything that is except a down the line backhand. Once people realised that he lacked that shot (i.e. every backhand was going to go crosscourt) was predictable and became beatable.
I remember!! as a fan it was hard to watch towards the end. kept yelling at the TV for the last 5 years of his career. was enjoyable tho! (my main crit was he kept going 'back behind' just too much until the advantage was no longer there, then finally he'd go cross court the other way, all the players were on to him )
The period between the Sampras era and Federa then Nadal then Djoker was the Hewitt era. Most people don’t seem to remember that. He certainly had some talent to be #1 for so long in that period but his tenacity and ability to win from 0-2 down was his most impressive attribute. This highlight reel is filled with long points where he scrambled for everything until he finally wore the other player down. It might be said that the competition was in a bit of a glut after Sampras retired and before Fed hit his straps but credit should be given to little Lleyton, he was an impressive player.
He was good but he peaked at the end of he Sampras era and before Federer got going on his run from 2003. As Sampras wrote in his book, Hewitt saw his window of opportunity and he took full advantage of it from 2000-20005. Great player but after his 2005 Aus Open loss to Safin, th game had passed him by as it does everyone. But, a fabulous career and a helluva gusty player. Fed admitted they all hated to see Hewitt show up in he draw because he was so dogged and mentally tough
Hewitt showed to the world that you don't need to be serv-volleyer to be successful in grass and in faster hardcourts. That even full baseliner can win on those courts.
Anybody that could make Roger grunt, even once, let alone sweat (!) was bone fide. Hewitt’s point construction was something else when he was at the top of his game.
Hewitt found that small gap between the previous greats and then the rise of Federer. Once Fed got in the scene he would usually beat Hewitt at least 1 set 6-0 just to work on his bagels.
he was a light weight champion who had his moments but once heavy weights like roger rafa novak showed up, he faded quick. But lots of respect for maximizing the early 2000s (post pete sampras prime era and old agassi)
But Federer took his lumps early on against Hewitt. It wasn't automatic by any means. Federer had to physically mature and raise his game. All the way through you were in a fight against Hewitt. All victories against him were earned. Unless l am mistaken and could be Hewitt even had success against a prime John Isner who consistently was serving bombs all over the place. Hewitt was great, he earned everything he got.
Lleyton is the one who has benefited the most from the transition between Sampras-Agassi of the 90's and the modern period of the big four (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray). Modern tennis is characterized by an evolution of the material with the generalization of the "poly" strings and the slowing down of surfaces giving a big advantage to baseliners. Therefore big servers like Sampras, Ivanisevic, Roddick were clearly at a disadvantage in favor of the baseliners like Agassi, Nalbandian, Baghdatis, and then Hewitt. Indeed from the beginning of the 2000's the surface of the tennis courts, including grass, became much slower. Indeed I grew up in the 90's watching attacking player such as Edberg, Becker, Stich, Sampras, Ivanisavic, Forget, old McEnroe in Wimbledon. But in 2002, the Hewitt-Nalbandian Wimbledon final really frustrated me: no one took to the net but instead relied on unusally longer rallies... Moreover, during the same transition period Hewitt, with his fighting spirit, also took advantage of the mental fragility of Marat Safin, Marcelo Rios and until 2003 of Federer. Hewitt had the merit of winning in a period when apart from Kuerten, Safin, Costa, Ferrero, and Kafelnikov, the list of Grand Slam tournament winners was made up of either surprise winners such as Thomas Johansson or older "post prime" players such as Petr Korda, Agassi, Ivanisevic, Sampras.... His style of play was a precursor to the style of Murray and of course especially Djokovic, who is now the archetype of the modern player and therefore the most accomplished specimen to date.. until Sinner, Rune and Alcaraz will push the level even further up... But obviously Hewitt style of play was not ergonomic enough to save his body from injuries. He probably lacked the ability to continuously adapt his game. Fon instance the following generations of top players such as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic has in an unprecedented way continually evolved their game and weaknesses: Federer's made a lot of progresses optimizing his footwork and backhand during his career, Nadal improved his backhand, serve and netgame, today Djokovic has the most impredictable serve and the best forehand in the game...
How good was he? Well he was very good, very mentally tough. But not powerful enough, didn't have enough weapons week after week, to win more than 2 slams. But in terms of doggedness and fight, he was supreme in those areas.
Yeah, a real over achiever, and perhaps the best counter puncher ever!! But he got blown off the court by guys like Federer, and Carlos Moya. in the 2004 US Open final; Federer beat him 6-0, 7-6, 6-0!! Hewitt still holds 4 tennis records.
why does the game look so slow back then? Is it the camera quality that gives that effect? Because they're striking looks really soft. Still incredible player, especially movement wise. I was just curious if the game changed that much since then or it's just a camera thing
Gastón Gaudio once said: “I don’t know how Hewitt reached number 1. His game was extremely slow, his ball didn’t have power. He returned everything, yes, but his game didn’t damage me at all”
Gaudio probably still can't get past this point, which starts at 10:44. Hewitt is one of the greatest in tennis and has achieved much more than Gaudio. Hewitt lives rent-free in his head
is this the same clay court specialist Gaudio who lost to Hewitt, a fast court specialist, on clay and has never beaten Hewitt on any surface aside from clay?
@@Ushgulubululum Gaudio's statement has some logic if you watch that point. He attacked him, moved him all over the court and still lost the point due to Hewitt's superpower skills when it came to running.
Gaston Gaudio is one of my least favorite players. Guillermo Coria should have won that RG final against him in 2004, way more talented than Gaston and Coria had way higher winning percentage than Gaudio going into that RG 2004 final
@Saibot198 the point shows exactly why Hewitt became a grandslam champion and world #1 while Gaudio didn't. Hewitt brought the fight every match and intrinsically had respect for his opponents' skills despite what he showed on the court sometimes. Hence he always believed in working to his limit and beyond. Gaudio was more talented however didn't respect the game or was rarely ready to fight when things weren't smooth sailing. He could have easily put away the smash, but he wanted to disrespect Hewitt. He didn't respect the game or his opponent enough. Ultimately, he paid the price. Hewitt worked super hard to stay in the point and was ready to push more; rightfully winning the point at the end.
His career was destroyed by roger federer when he was in unexplained forum later rafael nadal did the same to roger Federer in any case hewitt moya and nadal all are legends ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
It seems like this channel misses an opportunity to make videos like this much more engaging by simply adding some titles with progressive stats. Showing a collection of clips only gives a very vague answer to the video title, “how good was Lleyton Hewitt?”. Titles showing very easy to find information like a tally of his wins, interesting records/stats and other things would make the videos something people would seek out rather than just something they might click on if it appears in their feed.
The Murray from the early 2000s, i think he achieved almost his full potential, maybe injuries cost him anothers slam or masters title but overall i think Fed, Roddick, Safin and later Novak/Rafa/Murray were more talented than him
Hewitt was the pioneer of todays baseline boring to the core tennis, then came Ferrero, Nadal and the rest Running left and right, muscle over mind, playing push tennis to the max....also not very charismatic
@@arisadriano1544 Leyton Hewitt in his mid 20s was 1-6 against a younger Djokovic who was not even in his prime. Hewitt, Safin and Roddick, all the same age as Fed or close, were 1-26 against Roger from 2004-2007. Teenaged Nadal, Djokovic and Murray were 10-12.
He was definitely an amazing player, who unfortunately got overshadowed by peak Federer. He would easily be number 1 today in this era of pure mugs and buffoons.
He was good enough to fill the hole between Sampras and Federer era, not good enough for anything else. The fact that he basically disappeared from tennis when Federer and Nadal improved their game tells enough.
He didn't disappear. He had a ton of surgeries and injuries between like 2005 and 2010. Every time he came back he'd work his way back into the top 50 after dropping out.
Hewitt had a 10-9 head to head against Agassi/Sampras combined. He was beating them as a teenager and they weren't even that old. They were still in their 20s for the most part. I know a lot of fans on the internet only started watching tennis after the big 3 came along but this guy was a warrior and a rare talent and deserves respect.
I think Aussies for the most part would know but others may not realise how many injuries and surgeries this guy had on his foot and hip during his mid-20s. At one stage he consulted 7 surgeons about an issue with his toe, had to put screws and a plate in it and even burned the nerve endings to stop the pain. None of that worked so he had to get the toe fused together and was told he would never play tennis again. He did and got to finish his career on his own terms, even beating Federer in his last match against him. Just because he doesn't have 20 Grand Slams doesn't mean wasn't a great champion, there were amazing players before the big 3 and there will be afterwards too.
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
100% tennis knowledge
Exactly. About Hewitt, Federer said: "He was the one that really started it all. He was the one that showed us how to do it." I think Fed was talking about the mental game, not anything technical.
Fun fact; Hewitt is like 10 years younger than Agassi but Agassi won a grand slam more recently hehe
@@cybernetennis Fun fact: Hewitt won their first ever meeting when he was only 16, he he
That last point is my favourite point ever. That shot of Federer smiling as he was running down the last ball... at that moment it was more than just a competition. Both players loved the game and had captured the spirit of it. Beautiful to watch.
Definitely a GOAT point for sure!
Gave me CHILLS!
That look Roger gives Hewitt after the point too, respect.
Lleyton was the transition between the 90´s and the modern game. The determination to win, court coverage and counter attacking tennis was new in the game, back in the day. Lacking the consistence trough the whole season, but winning enough points to finish N1 two years in a row, he was a legend. His hip, besides Federer´s new era, marked the end of his peak-game. He brought to the game the "c´mon!!" with the swedish gesture "the vight". His trademark. Nor Federer, Djokovic, Alcaraz or whoever could yell c´mon like Lleyton used to. You could love him or hate him, but never went unnoticed. He didnt have to "create" a personality to be marketeable like many top players, he was like that since forever.
Imagine Lleyton Hewitt's dedication and never say die attitude in Nick Kyrgios!!
Now, THAT would be a formidable player!!
Nick Kyrgios is an arrogant prick who has never won a singles grand slam thinking he’s all that and this is coming from an Aussie.
I remember someone saying that one of the reasons so many players found him so difficult was because of the three quarters type of pace he often hit at. It wasn't hard enough to rebound the pace back at him, and not soft enough to take advantage of, and it wrecked a lot of players' timing because they were so used to heavier pace coming at them. It took the players a while to figure him out - notably Roger Federer, who lost 7 of his first 9 matches against Hewitt.
There were and are other players using the same strategy: Gilles Simon, Andy Murray and in more recent years Daniil Medvedev. It often looks a bit like cheating :-p as it is a low risk thing to do with high reward. But then again, if it is easier to do, then why doesn't everyone do it? ;-)
Federer was losing to everybody though, he had more 1R exits than QF before peaking.
Very interesting! thanks👍
It didnt take time for Fed to figure Hewitt out,it had nothing to do with that.
Fed was mentally weak in his early days ,also his game wasnt developed enough.
Once he got to his level,he wooped Hewitt's a$$ regularly.
Slam final.60 76 60
@@bluebird2401you are right about everything except Andy Murray.
He was the original "fast Aussie" even before De Minaur was born...😌😏
That's kinda disingenuous to Hewitt by just referring to him as a "fast Aussie". He was dominant in the early 2000s, way more successful than De Minaur has ever been.
@@starllama2149
Exactly.
His backhand was his weapon. It did all the heavy lifting. He did everything possible with that backhand. Lob, chip, drive, drop shot, volley. Took the ball early or late. Spin or flat. You name it.
Thank you 👍. Someone who gets it. They act like ball " pace" is the be all end all weapon. Layton was a wall with all the backhand qualities you said. Plus fitness and a tad crazy .
everything except the down the line backhand winner, so he became predictable on the backhand side. Reliable but predictable.
What an athlete! And very clever and highly skilled. Most of all, he played with the heart of a lion. I am happy to have finally seen a glimpse of Leyton’s career. Count me as a fan!
Hewitt pioneered the game modern game by sliding consistently on hard courts. The kind of sliding we see today has its origins in Hewitt's early days.
Yes, him and Clijsters.
it was also Paradorn Schrichapan who did a lot of sliding similar to what Djokovic does now.
and chang...he was a slider. chang and hewitt had similar guts. the hewitt lob is the most under rated shot in tennis - that thing he would pull out of nowhere and make players look stupid...
That last point was absolutely insane
One of the most impactful players ever. He was the first player who had both the returning and the court coverage to counter serve & volley. Sampras saw the writing on the wall at the 2001 USO.
I still love him as player no one can touch his dignity tje one and only llyten Hewitt ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
That last point v Federer is possibly the best point I've ever seen after 30+ years of watching tennis.
Perfect way to close out this compilation 👏🏻👏🏻
Right before Federer's era began, Hewitt came around and surely made his mark👍It's suck that injuries ruined his career, but still, you can't deny the fact that he is an amazing player: he managed to win 2 Slams, 2 ATP Finals, 1 Master and remained the Youngest World No.1 for 20 years (up until Alcaraz broke this record in 2022)⭐
He's very underrated. I'm a big fan of his game, it's clean and the counterpunching always entertains me
*2 masters, both Indian Wells. Also Top 10 most weeks at #1
I've been on a prime Hewitt binge recently, so this is perfect.
@HardCandy-fd4vz Like a B-Grade chinese copy! 😄
I respect the class and maturity De Minuar has shown over the past year and believe he will have a very good season. @HardCandy-fd4vz
That last point was one of the best ever..
one of my favorite players. He was relentless in getting every ball back as a counter-pusher. Also his serve form is picturesque. Look it up.
played with the rdx and rds because of this guy
He doesn’t get enough credit for how clean a hitter he was. He was fast, obviously, but there were other guys of comparable speed. They couldn’t effortlessly redirect pace or consistently thread passing shots on the full run, though.
13:23 i dont think i ever see that federer smiling camera of the point before! good stuff
federer knew the point was over because he fell into hewitt’s trap. it’s a salute to hewitt’s never say die attidude.
Lleyton perfected the art of 'the winner only needs to make 1 more ball ball than their opponent'
Youngest prime ever. Peaked with 21(when many players are still on the rise) and then faded away. Capitalized best in the phase between prime Pete and prime big 3 eras.
He had a lot of injuries
Tackling complex subjects with such finesse; it's an intellectual delight.😚
Hewitt and Murray the only 2 guys who could consistently hit lob winners...🤔
Nalbandian too
Agassi
The Aussies and Brits with their TS lobs....killer!
But, only Murray can do the grunting lob.
De Minaur's lobs are quite good too
Lleyton Hewitt is an absolute champion of the game and more than deserves his place in the Hall of Fame. His speed on court matched the sharpness of his mind, knowing when to hold back and when to go on the attack. As demonstrated in this video, Hewitt possessed an unbelievable ability to propel himself to every ball, which meant players had to work hard to get him off balance.
Unfortunately, like a lot of injury-prone players, Hewitt was robbed of what should have been his peak, but even then, I think his accomplishments at the turn of the century, being the youngest number 1 of all time (until Alcaraz), his mental fortitude and longevity despite a torrid run of injuries, I would say he's somewhere in the 20 to 30 bracket on the all-time list. He'd be ahead of many of his contemporaries at the time, including Kuerten, Roddick and Safin (arguably, given he also experienced a bad run of injuries that, like Hewitt, prevented him from achieving any more than he did).
What 'robbed' Hewitt was his inability to change his game. It didn't take long for other players to work him out and once they did, he was on a downward trajectory.
Lleyton Hewitt was always one of my favorites. I love his big time celebration - and when the Australian commentators go: "Ah yeahhh! And Lleyton's got the lawn-mowa going!"
My all time favorite player and the original "come on"!
One of the biggest cheat codes hewitt used was standing up on or inside the baseline cutting out the time the bug hitters had to react and swing through. Keeping them off balance with shorter backswing. Basically the De minaur game you see today.
That last rally was amazing :)
Where are the Rio quarterfinal highlights?
He was quick in court
Hewitt had it all deep, reliable ground strokes from the back of the court, superb volleys, an incredible lob, inside out forehand, cross court forehand and a warrior's spirit that never gave in. Everything that is except a down the line backhand. Once people realised that he lacked that shot (i.e. every backhand was going to go crosscourt) was predictable and became beatable.
I remember!!
as a fan it was hard to watch towards the end. kept yelling at the TV for the last 5 years of his career. was enjoyable tho!
(my main crit was he kept going 'back behind' just too much until the advantage was no longer there, then finally he'd go cross court the other way, all the players were on to him )
The period between the Sampras era and Federa then Nadal then Djoker was the Hewitt era. Most people don’t seem to remember that. He certainly had some talent to be #1 for so long in that period but his tenacity and ability to win from 0-2 down was his most impressive attribute. This highlight reel is filled with long points where he scrambled for everything until he finally wore the other player down. It might be said that the competition was in a bit of a glut after Sampras retired and before Fed hit his straps but credit should be given to little Lleyton, he was an impressive player.
He was good but he peaked at the end of he Sampras era and before Federer got going on his run from 2003. As Sampras wrote in his book, Hewitt saw his window of opportunity and he took full advantage of it from 2000-20005. Great player but after his 2005 Aus Open loss to Safin, th game had passed him by as it does everyone. But, a fabulous career and a helluva gusty player. Fed admitted they all hated to see Hewitt show up in he draw because he was so dogged and mentally tough
O último ponto com o Federer rindo antes dele terminar é uma pérola do tênis ❤
Prime Hewitt was a beast! The original Mighty Mouse who made the most out of his incredible talent. That last point vs. Federer was trademark Lleyton.
He's in the top 10 greatest male tennis players of all time.
A career overshadowed by federer
Hewitt showed to the world that you don't need to be serv-volleyer to be successful in grass and in faster hardcourts. That even full baseliner can win on those courts.
He had a never say die attitude. If he were down 6-0, 5-0, 40-0, he'd still be chasing down every ball like his life depended on it.
Roger's probably still breathing heavy from that final rally. Prime Hewitt was the man
😅 didn’t even know this guy was Aussie for ages . Grew up watching him . Only realised he was Aus when he versed prime Federer
Hewitt will always be one of the greatest Australian 🎾 tennis players. Come On!!!
And according to that idiot Kyrgios, he will always be the best (albeit, without ever achieving anything significant).
I like Hewitt but this is an era of tennis I do NOT miss.
Anybody that could make Roger grunt, even once, let alone sweat (!) was bone fide. Hewitt’s point construction was something else when he was at the top of his game.
Fed has his #
Hewitt found that small gap between the previous greats and then the rise of Federer. Once Fed got in the scene he would usually beat Hewitt at least 1 set 6-0 just to work on his bagels.
Last point still the greatest of all time
incredible how much racquet and string technology improved over the years
almost looks like a different sport 20 years ago
Shut up
quality of match video recordings as well. 60fps very smooth
he was a light weight champion who had his moments but once heavy weights like roger rafa novak showed up, he faded quick. But lots of respect for maximizing the early 2000s (post pete sampras prime era and old agassi)
But Federer took his lumps early on against Hewitt. It wasn't automatic by any means. Federer had to physically mature and raise his game. All the way through you were in a fight against Hewitt. All victories against him were earned. Unless l am mistaken and could be Hewitt even had success against a prime John Isner who consistently was serving bombs all over the place.
Hewitt was great, he earned everything he got.
But he had a good record against early Roger. Someone in the comments said it was 7-2 in their first encounters
few friends n I used to call him the Austrian wild rabbit.
Lleyton is the one who has benefited the most from the transition between Sampras-Agassi of the 90's and the modern period of the big four (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray). Modern tennis is characterized by an evolution of the material with the generalization of the "poly" strings and the slowing down of surfaces giving a big advantage to baseliners. Therefore big servers like Sampras, Ivanisevic, Roddick were clearly at a disadvantage in favor of the baseliners like Agassi, Nalbandian, Baghdatis, and then Hewitt.
Indeed from the beginning of the 2000's the surface of the tennis courts, including grass, became much slower. Indeed I grew up in the 90's watching attacking player such as Edberg, Becker, Stich, Sampras, Ivanisavic, Forget, old McEnroe in Wimbledon. But in 2002, the Hewitt-Nalbandian Wimbledon final really frustrated me: no one took to the net but instead relied on unusally longer rallies...
Moreover, during the same transition period Hewitt, with his fighting spirit, also took advantage of the mental fragility of Marat Safin, Marcelo Rios and until 2003 of Federer.
Hewitt had the merit of winning in a period when apart from Kuerten, Safin, Costa, Ferrero, and Kafelnikov, the list of Grand Slam tournament winners was made up of either surprise winners such as Thomas Johansson or older "post prime" players such as Petr Korda, Agassi, Ivanisevic, Sampras.... His style of play was a precursor to the style of Murray and of course especially Djokovic, who is now the archetype of the modern player and therefore the most accomplished specimen to date.. until Sinner, Rune and Alcaraz will push the level even further up...
But obviously Hewitt style of play was not ergonomic enough to save his body from injuries. He probably lacked the ability to continuously adapt his game. Fon instance the following generations of top players such as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic has in an unprecedented way continually evolved their game and weaknesses: Federer's made a lot of progresses optimizing his footwork and backhand during his career, Nadal improved his backhand, serve and netgame, today Djokovic has the most impredictable serve and the best forehand in the game...
How good was he? Well he was very good, very mentally tough. But not powerful enough, didn't have enough weapons week after week, to win more than 2 slams. But in terms of doggedness and fight, he was supreme in those areas.
Think he won 3...
Yeah, a real over achiever, and perhaps the best counter puncher ever!!
But he got blown off the court by guys like Federer, and Carlos Moya.
in the 2004 US Open final; Federer beat him 6-0, 7-6, 6-0!!
Hewitt still holds 4 tennis records.
why does the game look so slow back then? Is it the camera quality that gives that effect? Because they're striking looks really soft. Still incredible player, especially movement wise. I was just curious if the game changed that much since then or it's just a camera thing
his backhand changed later years.
Gastón Gaudio once said: “I don’t know how Hewitt reached number 1. His game was extremely slow, his ball didn’t have power. He returned everything, yes, but his game didn’t damage me at all”
Gaudio probably still can't get past this point, which starts at 10:44. Hewitt is one of the greatest in tennis and has achieved much more than Gaudio. Hewitt lives rent-free in his head
is this the same clay court specialist Gaudio who lost to Hewitt, a fast court specialist, on clay and has never beaten Hewitt on any surface aside from clay?
@@Ushgulubululum Gaudio's statement has some logic if you watch that point. He attacked him, moved him all over the court and still lost the point due to Hewitt's superpower skills when it came to running.
Gaston Gaudio is one of my least favorite players. Guillermo Coria should have won that RG final against him in 2004, way more talented than Gaston and Coria had way higher winning percentage than Gaudio going into that RG 2004 final
@Saibot198 the point shows exactly why Hewitt became a grandslam champion and world #1 while Gaudio didn't. Hewitt brought the fight every match and intrinsically had respect for his opponents' skills despite what he showed on the court sometimes. Hence he always believed in working to his limit and beyond. Gaudio was more talented however didn't respect the game or was rarely ready to fight when things weren't smooth sailing. He could have easily put away the smash, but he wanted to disrespect Hewitt. He didn't respect the game or his opponent enough. Ultimately, he paid the price. Hewitt worked super hard to stay in the point and was ready to push more; rightfully winning the point at the end.
His career was destroyed by roger federer when he was in unexplained forum later rafael nadal did the same to roger Federer in any case hewitt moya and nadal all are legends ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I don t know what happened to him after 2005, 2006 was the beginning of his funeral. Since then he was not the same anymore.
that's the point he started to have a lot of injury issues
Los momentos de Rio??
FIGHTER 💪
Rio QF highlights?????????
He would have been top 30 today.
And you can say that about all eras. Irrelevant comment and no true knowledge.
He played in the real best era of tennis just before prime fed
Alcaraz vibes?
In the era of Sampras/Agassi, you just really disliked this guy.
That's how you know he was a world-class player.
Hewitt Just good enough to win 1 slam, Safin was unique.
He has won three grandslams …
@@patrioticindia only2 actually
It seems like this channel misses an opportunity to make videos like this much more engaging by simply adding some titles with progressive stats. Showing a collection of clips only gives a very vague answer to the video title, “how good was Lleyton Hewitt?”. Titles showing very easy to find information like a tally of his wins, interesting records/stats and other things would make the videos something people would seek out rather than just something they might click on if it appears in their feed.
Its his birthday today
He was a better Radwanska version. A product of weak era, he fitted nicely between prime Sampras/Agassi and prime Federer.
Good enough to not bother showing his Wimbledon title apparently?
This channel can't show the slams, hence no footage from Wimbledon or the US Open, or the Australian Open where he beat Nadal on the way to the final.
Even the Tennis TV officials cannot witness more of Djokovic fans' stupid saying of weak era, that they decided to upload this.
He was the Novak before Novak
I want to play like Roger glide through the court.
Wonder why he had so many injuries? All that running...?
If not for Federer Hewitt would have been the greatest of his generation and a probable GOAT. Remember, he was world no.1 before Federer
No way he would’ve had the longevity to be GOAT. His results were becoming erratic by 2003.
@@rjamesyork Yep, Safin beat him pretty easy in 2005 AO final, I thought Hewitt will get that title, but crazy Russian was of 🔥those 2 weeks
Pretty good...
I started watching tennis when Hewitt was breaking through and he was better than Federer at that time.
Come onnnnnnnnnn
The Murray from the early 2000s, i think he achieved almost his full potential, maybe injuries cost him anothers slam or masters title but overall i think Fed, Roddick, Safin and later Novak/Rafa/Murray were more talented than him
masipa bens?
Hewitt was the pioneer of todays baseline boring to the core tennis, then came Ferrero, Nadal and the rest
Running left and right, muscle over mind, playing push tennis to the max....also not very charismatic
He was amazing until the injuries plagued him. The first N1 to play the modern baseline game.
When was his injuries?
@@AlanRR121 2006. By 2008 he added a hip surgery which basically ended him.
Surely that was Andre Agassi
@@AlanRR121huge problems with hip and feet.
xx 😊💫
Sam p and aggassi far superior players.
Guy was a dink off the court
been watching tennis since the 90s. i always say to younger fans that a prime lleyton hewitt will give djokovic and nadal a run for their money.
@@arisadriano1544 Leyton Hewitt in his mid 20s was 1-6 against a younger Djokovic who was not even in his prime. Hewitt, Safin and Roddick, all the same age as Fed or close, were 1-26 against Roger from 2004-2007. Teenaged Nadal, Djokovic and Murray were 10-12.
He was definitely an amazing player, who unfortunately got overshadowed by peak Federer. He would easily be number 1 today in this era of pure mugs and buffoons.
He won’t beat alcaraz sinner medvedev or peak zverev lol
I suspect the likes of Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner and Medvedev would beat Hewitt.
@@doctornov7 zverev dimitrov or even hurkacz tsitsipas will
No way. Hewitt would get overpowered by today's players
@@doctornov7 actually Hewitt Medwedew would be an interesting matchup, those matches would probably last for days...
I’d like to see how he would go in this era if he was in his prime bet be a different story
Hewitt was good at his prime. But calling him "great" is just over dramatic.
Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Nadal, Novak are the true GREAT players.
ヒューイット、プリンスのラケット使っててんな。
知らんかったわ。
He was so boring and he was able to win something big between Sampras decline e Federer rise . In my opinion lucky
He only won two Grand Slam titles. He was good, but wasn’t that good
hewitt was so boring to watch
the real weak era world number 1
lol you're kidding right
a nadie le intereso nunca la vida de este pibe.... soberbio como el solo... no existe.....
He was good enough to fill the hole between Sampras and Federer era, not good enough for anything else. The fact that he basically disappeared from tennis when Federer and Nadal improved their game tells enough.
He didn't disappear. He had a ton of surgeries and injuries between like 2005 and 2010. Every time he came back he'd work his way back into the top 50 after dropping out.
He was not that good
Meh
Prime hewiit?stan wawrinka is better than him