What Hewitt needs for 2006

to beat Roger Federer

By Brad Properjohn 

If Lleyton Hewitt is going to ever beat Roger Federer on his own merits, he is going to have to run the risk of losing to guys he now beats.  Hewitt’s weapon in tennis, over and above every other aspect of his game, is his mind.  A stubborn, tenacious, never say die fighter that makes you admire him, even if your not so keen on his “in your face” antics and attitude. 

Unfortunately, that very stubbornness that makes him great is the very thing that may stop him beating Federer.  Here is the conundrum; Lleyton hates to lose so much that his individual match performances cloud his ability to see the big picture.   

Lleyton’s classic mantras that he tries to puts into practice like, “I’m just going to go out there and play my game” and “I’m going to raise the bar” are just not clever enough anymore to beat king Federer.  

To win, sometimes it's not enough to do what you do well, but you have to do what the other guy doesn’t do well. 

Here in lays the problem: for Lleyton to be able to practice the weaponry to beat Federer, he needs to practice them in other matches, matches he normally wins playing his signature game.

Knowing Hewitt, he would most likely win these “test” matches anyway as he has the equipment, but he simply doesn’t practice it enough to have confidence in it at the highest level. No question though, if he did get on a roll with his new game, things might just gel for him.  

Hewitt basically panics when he comes to the net. He looks uncomfortable, off balance and hectic. He comes in only as a desperate measure like, 2 sets down and a break down in the 3^rd, and won’t persevere with a tactic that doesn’t have instant success.  He falls back to his safety base line game in all-critical situations and Federer knows it.  

If he was aggressive more often he would develop an “attack sense”, a flow and inner calm that allows your hands to remain supple and your legs to be charged with energy rather than heavy and stiff.  

Hewitt isn’t big enough to cover the net and sway the balance of power away from the base liners powerful ground strokes as would a straight serve and volleyer like Rafter or Henman, but if he selectively took advantage of a bunch of strokes including net play he would spice up a now very readable game. 

By being selective, he can hold the element of surprise, to pounce or to be patient. It’s not that you always have to go to net on short balls, but you must threaten to go and that’s what he doesn’t do, and Federer does.  Dealing with the threat draws as many errors as the hit itself.  Federer basically says, “if it’s short I might come in or I might thump it or I might just drop shot it, wait and see”. This style of play is torturous, no chance to relax and just rally, he constantly causes you to play in a state of limbo not knowing what’s about to happen next. 

Is it possible to change? Sure it is and it’s been done. Willander in the 90s developed a single handed stinging slice backhand (he had a double handed backhand) and net game good enough to win the Wimbledon doubles and to attain the World No 1 spot. 

Lleyton needs to use a variety of shots in developing a more opportunistic style of play.  Perhaps Hewitt could mould his game on a Gene Mayer, Vitas Gerulaitis or a Fabrice Santoro’s all court game, but base it around his ironclad groundies, he’d be awesome and more importantly “unreadable”.   

The challenges that face Lleyton Hewitt and his quest for grand slam titles are, as usual, not based around his weaponry but more about his willingness to use it and to nurture it in other matches other than against Federer, to take one step backward to come two steps forward.   

September 30th 2005

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