Lleyton Hewitt's
interview after his win 1-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 over Key
Nishikori at the Wimbledon 2011
By LadyDragon
LONDON--(LadyDragon.com)22/06/11--Q. How satisfying was that?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Very
satisfying, considering what I've been through. Yeah,
mentally and physically what I've had to go through to
try and even get on the court. He's a quality player. So,
yeah, it's pleasing, very pleasing.
Q. Were you
surprised how well you moved out there?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, it's always in
the back of your mind. That's the hardest thing about a
Grand Slam, playing a big tournament, is trying to get it
out of your mind as much as possible and concentrate on
what I've got to actually do out there on the court and
what's actually going on around me within the match as
well and focus on that a hundred percent. That was tough
mentally to do out there today.
Q. Did you feel
you were in less pain than last week?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. No, it was good. Feel good.
Q. Can you
elaborate more on the journey of the last week or so.
LLEYTON HEWITT: It's been rough, sort of been a day to
day thing really. Kind of knowing the whole time that
it's not just gonna magically disappear overnight. That's
the hard thing, you know. You wake up, it's pretty sore.
As I said, I've had to try and block it out as much as
possible and still get on with practice and doing all the
right things to prepare myself as well as possible. So,
yeah, I think everyone knows if it wasn't Wimbledon, I
wouldn't be out there. I'd be obviously looking after my
body a bit more. You know, this is what I play for.
Q. It was proper
test of your foot, too?
LLEYTON HEWITT: He's a quality player. He's won tour
events, made the semis last week. Lost to a good grass
court player in Tipsarevic. It was always going to be a
tough match. I think grass is probably his second best
surface I'd say behind hard courts. He moves extremely
well out on the courts. He's got a world class backhand.
His forehand is flashy. He's dangerous.
Q. What's the
medical advice on what you should do with your foot if
you weren't here playing?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Don't know. Right now, don't know. We
haven't really thought about it because I was always
going to play. Basically just I've told everyone we'll
sit back and think about that after the tournament. But
right now we're just doing everything we can to, you
know, get as close to a hundred percent as possible.
Q. Painkillers
today?
LLEYTON HEWITT: You don't need to know that.
Q. What will you
do before your next match? A lot of physio as well as
having a practice hitting?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't know. I'm playing doubles.
I might be playing doubles tomorrow. I'm not sure. Yeah,
I'll obviously be playing doubles with my good mate
Looch. Hopefully gonna have a win in that. Be using that
as a practice hit anyway if we are on tomorrow, my day
off between singles matches.
Q. You won the
Open 10 years ago. A few days later it's 9/11. Do you
have recollections of that? Were you already flying home?
How did that play out for you?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, no, I've got strong memories,
amazing memories. I think I was on one of the last
flights out of New York the night before it happened the
next morning. So we were flying obviously back to Sydney,
L.A. to Sydney on the plane when it happened. I think the
air hostess and everyone had been told what was going on,
but no one else knew at the time. Yeah, when we landed in
Sydney and got told what was happening, it was something
out of a movie. Incredible.
Q. Could you take
a minute and talk about the role of luck in our sport.
There's draws, let cords, injuries, the situations you
were born into. Talk about the role of luck in tennis and
in your career.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, yeah. Luck plays a big part, but a
lot of things you make your own luck, as well, by
preparation and doing the right things. Obviously, during
a match there's, you know, things that can happen, net
cords, line calls. There's a lot of things that can go
your way and go against you. You'd like to think that it
evens out over time over 10 years, 12 years of playing.
But, uhm, you know, I'm still a big believer if you do
all the right things, maybe little bits of luck might
fall your way.
Q. Can you recall
a real lucky moment in your career and a not so lucky?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Not off the top of my head, no.
Q. Next up it
looks like Robin Soderling. Tell us about how that's
going to be as a challenge for you with your foot and
everything.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'll be right come Thursday. It's
going to be another tough test. He's another step up from
Nishikori. Especially on this surface, he's a dangerous
player. He's a big striker off both sides, forehand and
backhand, from the baseline, and got a big serve, big
first serve, big flat one.
Q. A chance
you'll get a decent court, is this the sort of match that
keeps you going?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'll be up for it, that's for sure.
Q. You've beaten
him before. What have you had to do on those occasions?
LLEYTON HEWITT: It was quite a while ago. He's improved
since those times. We really only played once since he's
last year in Cincinnati it was an extremely tight match
in three sets. Yeah, I got to go out there and play my
game, obviously try to dictate play as much as possible.
Then again, I'm going to have to return and move
extremely well to put him under some kind of pressure.
He's the guy that wants to be playing on his terms and
trying to dictate me around. So, yeah, it will be a good
matchup.
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