Lleyton Hewitt Profile

By Peter Smith, Head Coach Next Generation Sports Complex  Memorial Drive, South Australia 

I’ve Got to Play Lleyton 

What an interesting scenario!  You are a professional player with a touring coach, you check the draw for the upcoming tournament and who do you play first round?  None other than Lleyton Hewitt!  Well, you could be excused for not being wildly excited – after all, he is the No. 1 ranked player in the world.  Anyway, there is nothing you can do about it – just the luck of the draw.  So let’s get down to business and take a positive, professional approach to planning a first round victory. 

Lleyton Hewitt Profile 

Mental Toughness 

Finely tuned from a young age, unsurpassed, seems to thrive on adversity (Davis Cup Quarter Final in Brazil 2001). Don’t try sledging etc because it just makes him more determined to win. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.Lleyton is the street fighter, he is the Rocky Balboa. 

Fitness 

During breaks from tournament play, some short periods of intensive gym and track work but generally a minimal off court program but approximately 100 matches last year – no wonder this guy seems to be able to go all day. 

Speed 

Thought to be as fast as any player in the world.  Seems almost impossible to get the ball away from him.  Let’s not get too excited about playing a lot of drop shots.  Moves extremely well both laterally and up and down the court. 

Agility/Flexibility 

This guy is like a rubber ball – he is all over the court twisting, turning, reaching, jumping, diving.

·        The most resilient body I have ever seen. 

Tactical 

Also under rated – an amazing instinctive capacity to know what shot to play when – very rarely makes the wrong choice. Almost seems to know what the other player is going to do before he does it. Generally players go out with a game plan for a particular opponent.

 

Lleyton goes out with a plan but his is more constant – a plan of how he plays best and how he wants to play – there is a strong element of pride involved – Lleyton pits his game against the opposition and believes that if he plays his game well then he will win. 

·        On the other hand, Lleyton’s opponents are often forced to change their preferred game in a desperate bid to be competitive – highly unlikely to be successful when their standard game has already failed – why would a less practised modification be more successful? 

Courage 

Unquestioned. 

Will never “tank” one point. No matter how fatigued for how injured, he does not know how to give less than 100% to win. Is never beaten until the final point is over. 

Competitive Capacity 

Unrivalled to the extent that it has become an intimidating factor. Corretja has continued to complain about Lleyton’s relentless determination to win every point even after winning the first 2 sets 6/0 6/0 (Aussie Open 2000) 

·        Lleyton has an enormous capacity to “will” points.  No matter what the circumstances of the match, Lleyton can somehow “invent” ways of winning the most important points – saved 19 of 21 break points versus Agassi Indian Wells 2002. 

Right!  Homework complete!

 

Now for the match plan!  From an opposition viewpoint this exercise could be quite counter productive (you could convince yourself that it is not possible to win); in fact more than just a little depressing.  Clearly, there are many strengths (some of the highest order) and few, if any, weaknesses. 

If weaknesses do exist they are negligible to the point of providing little opportunity for exploitation.  It also needs to be kept in mind that to exploit weaknesses, opponents must possess considerable strengths. 

In short, barring injury, fatigue or ill health, Lleyton will start favourite in every match against any player in the world – only a small number would be considered to have a reasonable chance.  This group would probably fall into 2 categories: 

1.     The really big servers who can also volley.

2.     The smaller, faster players who play with a similar style to Lleyton. 

Players in both categories would generally not have a plan to beat Lleyton as they would against lesser players – against Lleyton they would go out intent on playing their best tennis, hope that Lleyton would be a little down on the day, with a bit of luck sneak a win. 

Lleyton’s Drive and Future 

Passion 

Enormously powerful for a few simple things in life – friends and family, football (Adelaide Crows_, backyard cricket, golf, horse racing and of course playing tennis. 

Lleyton’s passion for tennis is somewhat different to most – he is motivated to win and to accumulate titles but is motivated more by playing the best players in the world in order to take his game to another level – it is more about him versus the game, a game that is impossible to be perfect at but one that he progressively works towards being as good at as anyone has ever been. 

This unique passion may well have been developed at a very young age during the annual family pilgrimage to the Australian Open, “they loved it” (Lleyton and Jaslyn).  Lleyton saw so many great matches first hand – he developed a “nose” for it – he could breathe it and feel it. 

All his junior matches were just part of the inevitable outcome.  From the age of 6, he saw a direct link between what happened on the coaching court and actually playing – he devoured an emphasis on every area of the game that would make him ultimately more competitive. 

Exhilaration 

In some ways an adrenalin junkie. 

Hugely motivated by elements of special performance – contrary to popular opinion, Lleyton can’t just turn himself off and on whenever he feels like it – to be turned on, he needs some sort of cue, usually a freak shot often followed by certain spectator response. 

Lleyton will isolate friends and fans in the crowd and will feed off their passionate support eg the Fanatics. 

When this element is working, we see the trademark jumping and fist pumping and we hear the trademark “Come on!” 

·        For those who think this enormously important factor can be stifled away from home, think again!  It may need only one or two supporters and more importantly is often brought about by the attempt of a few or the majority of an audience to break him down with “anti barracking”.  This is where he is most dangerous. 

Patience 

The exhilaration factor cons most people into missing the patience factor. 

This is a huge strength – an almost animal cunning – not the type where one jumps on an unsuspecting prey but more a “boa constrictor” type where there is a slow, steady build up of pressure that ultimately results in an opponent succumbing  - opponents feel a sense of helplessness, there is nowhere to hide, no escape – tennis can be a very lonely sport. 

Support 

Lleyton is very comfortable with his strong committed support group. 

On tour – girlfriend (Kim Clijsters), coach, parents, representatives of Management Company and personal assistant. 

During the breaks – the same level of support plus a small group of school and tennis friends in Adelaide. 

An overlay to this support base has been a special bond formed between Lleyton and a core of Aussie players and past players. 

As the “orange boy” or the “new kid on the block”, there was a need to be “looked after” and certain people came to the fore.  Scott Draper is a very close mate and sometimes doubles/training partner.  Scott could actually claim a lot of the credit for Lleyton’s success, having contributed substantially to Lleyton’s first AAPT victory in Adelaide by losing convincingly to him in Round 1. 

Then there has been the Rafter factor.  To a certain degree, Lleyton idolised Pat and benefited enormously from his almost larger than life Aussie presence on tour.  At a Davis Cup level, Newk and Rochey and more recently Fitzie and Wally have provided invaluable support, friendship and advice. 

Although not a huge group, all those mentioned have been long time believers in Lleyton as a person and as a player – Lleyton values this level of genuine friendship and support enormously. 

The Immediate Future 

The tennis court is Lleyton’s stage.  He is a performer – tennis is his medium of self-expression. 

To him it is not about the money or property or cars or fame, it’s all about the game and his ability to play it. 

His memory of matches, circumstances, great points and great shots is amazing – it is clear that this is the motivation, this is the adrenalin rush. 

All these factors lead to creating the moment where “I played some serious tennis out there tonight” and on rare occasions “it was scary out there today” – sometimes he even surprises himself with how well he had played – the subtle implication here of course is that on fairly regular occasions Lleyton is producing a PB – now this is scary! – Things have already been “pretty” good; the mind boggles at what else we have got to look forward to. 

Impact (on Australian tennis) 

Australians love their sporting heroes. 

Historically there has been a long line of tennis greats.  There is an expectation in this country that we will have players at the top of the game.  With Pat (Rafter) taking a break and Mark (Philippoussis) still struggling with injury, the situation demands a new hero. 

For all the reasons described above, Lleyton is perfect – it is not just his recent success but also the way he plays.  

The courage and raw energy have captured the imagination of young and old alike; able bodied and those with a disability can be seen with caps backwards and the familiar “Come on” rings out across the local tennis clubs.  

Lleyton has quickly become the face of the game; under intense scrutiny in some quarters he has come through.  Brilliantly talented, articulate and modest, Lleyton has provided enjoyment for all and hope for aspiring young players.  If role models are important, tennis in Australia will be the winner. 

The Tennis Coach would like to thank Peter Smith for allowing us to run this article, we appreciate your help and cooperation.