adidas International

January 10, 2003

Lleyton Hewitt

THE MODERATOR: As you know, earlier today, Pat Rafter announced his retirement from professional tennis. Lleyton is here to answer any questions you may have. First question, please.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I guess it's always a bit of a surprise. I hit with him a little bit last week. We had a hit on the golf course and on the tennis court, and he is still hitting the ball well enough to chop up a lot of guys on the tour. I think it's just more the -- sort of the grinding and waking up next day and being very stiff and sore and sort of working through that, maybe a bit more than just competing. It's sort of putting in a lot of hours on the practice court, as well.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I was trying to convince him as much as anyone to come back and play Davis Cup again. I thought this year would be fantastic, even if he just came back and played doubles. You know, I thought we could have had a pretty good combination if he came back and played with Woodbridge and myself in the doubles. We had obviously myself and Flip and then Wayne as the backup singles player. It's not a bad team to go in with. I think if we won the Davis Cup this year, it would be more disappointing at that time if Pat was not there to sort of celebrate it with us. He's had an incredible career. I think deep down, he knows that his life has moved on. He's in the last few months with the kid and getting engaged to Laura and everything. He just wants to go in another direction.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, we are sort of at two different parts of our careers. I think when I get to that stage, it's just going to sort of hit you, I guess. It's sort of when the enjoyment is out of the game and you don't want to go out there and you don't enjoy training or trying to improve your game, I guess that's when you -- maybe it's time to move on. At the moment, thankfully, I don't quite have that choice to sort of make. You know, it's always going to be a tough choice, I think for him more than anyone, because every person around the world wants to see him come back again. He's sort of got that added pressure with that expectation that everyone wants to still see him go around and play.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, he's been incredible. We were struggling, not only doing well in Grand Slam tournaments there for a while, sort of since Pat won Wimbledon and made the finals at the Aussie, we had a fair while there where no one was able to stand up. We were starting to look at -- you get to the third or fourth round of a Grand Slam and that's a really good effort, and Pat sort of took it to anew level. He made the semis on clay at the French Open, which is his least favorite surface, and then he went in the same year at the end of the year to win the US Open. I think he gave everyone in Australia, including myself and I'm sure Mark Philippoussis, as well, that this is possible. Then the next year he played, Flip, obviously in the final of the US Open again. I think Australian tennis definitely started to surge forward because of him. Newk and Rochey, he had a lot to do with that as well, getting Pat that good in Davis Cup, he was able to carry a lot of the team.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I'm not sure. I think he was probably one of the nicest guys to ever pick up a racquet. I think a lot of people are going to remember him because of that more than anything. Sure, they are going to no doubt remember him getting to No. 1 in the world and winning two US Opens, but I think everyone enjoyed him. He looked like he enjoyed his tennis so much, I think, no matter if he was winning or losing. I think, obviously, the two biggest disappointments, he said that he has not won the Davis Cup. To me, though he has won the Davis Cup; he had a lot to do with us winning it in '99. And obviously not winning Wimbledon, yet he's been so close to it twice.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I've got different moments. There's a couple. I think one of the best ones was in '97 when Newk and Rochey got me and another young kid, Nathan Healey (ph), to go down and be the Orange Boy at the White Sydney City (ph) tie against France. Pat was coming back from injury and he was not training well that whole week. He went out of his way to talk to us and sort of talk about Davis Cup and what it's all about. Then sitting on the sidelines and seeing him come back from sets down and a break down against Pioline, who had made the Wimbledon final before that, on grass, was , you know, it's one of the main reasons why I wanted to play Davis Cup and why I loved Davis Cup so much, was being that was my first ever live Davis Cup match that I ever saw. After that, he actually took me to Bondie (ph) Beach and I had to go and do his recovery with him. For me it was a great time sort of to look up; I had done nothing at that stage, and to see what it's all about, I guess. The other moments, I guess, are Davis Cup matches. Probably our win down in Brazil in the doubles, I guess. It's such a big match and a clutch match. I felt like we both played as well as we could in that doubles match and got away with a win.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't think so. He just hasn't hit enough. I think doubles, he could have come back. I think he would have had to make a decision, not right now. He would have had to start preparing a little bit earlier. If he was hitting in December and January and going into February, I don't see any reason why we could not have had him in the four-man squad, and depending on what happened in day one, thrown him into doubles.

LLEYTON HEWITT: No. We didn't talk about tennis at all, really. That's why it comes as a little bit of a shock in that way. It sort of has come out today, a few days before the Australian Open I guess. I have no idea what he's going to do. No idea. I know he's enjoying his golf at the moment with the kid and Laura. I guess it's a whole new thing for him now, the next couple of years, anyway. I think it will be good for him to somehow help out because a lot of the younger Australian juniors coming through I think could benefit. Even if he just spoke to a few of the younger guys, as well, I think that could really help guys in the future.

LLEYTON HEWITT: If she's winning I don't think there's a problem. I don't know anything about it. That's very hard for me to comment on it. As I said if, she's going out there and winning Grand Slams and she's sitting No. 3 in the world, I don't think she's got too much issues.

LLEYTON HEWITT: A draw is a draw. It could be seven matches to win a Slam.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's always another option, I guess, for our team. Yeah, Flip and I just haven't played again, so going into this next one it's going to be tough. We have Todd Woodbridge putting his hand up there. The tough thing about playing singles players and Davis Cup is you don't know how you're going to feel after the first day, and you want to save some energy for the last day, as well, because there's a lot of rubber. Flip and I were actually both thinking, we had spoken and probably going to play in Madrid at the end of last year, doubles, and I obviously pulled out with a sickness there, and his knee was not ready, anyway. So there's been a few opportunities where it just has not sort of come up at the right time. I think in the future, I think if we can get a few matches under our belt in tournaments, then we can surely have another option in Davis Cup.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Obviously, with the chicken pox last year, it was going to be tough. But before that I felt fine. Obviously, I didn't quite have too much pressure on myself going into the Australian Opens before that. Maybe one year before that I was seeded, but a lower seed. Before that I was pretty much a bit of a bunny out there, so I didn't have a lot of expectation or pressure on me. I feel comfortable at the moment. I feel relaxed enough. You just don't know really until you go out there Monday or Tuesday and see how you go. The first few rounds I find in Grand Slams, if you can get through those matches, I feel like I've played enough big matches now that I'm going to get better and better as the tournament goes on.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It was last year and it didn't help.

LLEYTON HEWITT: That's difficult. I don't know. I really don't know. I know that the public, I think has been incredible, especially over the last year or so. Maybe since Pat's retired, especially this year, the support that I got during Wimbledon this year was incredible from back home in Australia. When I came back after the Masters Cup, I didn't really how many people sat up, it's two o'clock in the morning, to watch the delayed telecast of the match. I think it's been great, the support that I've been getting. I think obviously, I put my hand up for Davis Cup every time it comes up and I think that obviously helps in the public's eye.

LLEYTON HEWITT: In some ways, I guess. But it's not something that I've really worried about too much. Obviously, Pat has not played all year, so it's something -- Flip has been injured. Obviously Wayne sort of hovering around the 50 mark. I've been sort of the only real focus, I guess, at the end of Grand Slam tournaments, so it's something that I've had to deal with the last couple of years. I feel sort of fine with, I guess, that pressure, that expectation of sort of sitting up there and being the No. 1 Australian. I don't have too many problems with that. I think I really enjoy it, especially in Davis Cup ties, going out there and being the No. 1 player in that and sort of trying to get the team off to a good start on day one, I guess. I had to do that in '99 when the first time against Russia in the Davis Cup in Brisbane, after obviously, our two guns, Pat and Flip, were injured, and we had to go out there and were not able to play. We had to go out there and stand up, and I enjoyed sort of taking it to New Guinea (ph) on that third day.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, for sure. The way, I guess, that Pat sort of helped me out, that started my career when I hadn't had any senior points. I didn't know anything about the tour, and it's a bit scary, I guess, when you first come on the tour and you don't really know much about it, the whole -- strange rooms and in the locker room and something like that. When you have got someone in there who is sort of in the Top 10 or Top 20 at the time and sort of has a presence around the tour week-in and week-out, then it's a lot easier. I found that I could always go to Pat with any questions with whatever I had, and, I guess, that's something I'm hoping to try and pass on to the next bunch of guys at the moment, Henry, Durrack (ph), those kind of guys, and that's why I invited them over a couple of weeks ago to hit in Adelaide, as well. They are good enough players for me to really have good workout and good hits with out there on the practice court. I saw it as a huge opportunity for them before playing three of their biggest tournaments in Australia, getting wild-cards. It was a good opportunity to sort of see where they are at, I guess, as well.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, well, it was a lot easier, I guess. I think that's what Newk and Rochey tried to bring in with the "Orange Boy" thing with the Davis Cup, as well, and try to get that bond of sort of the Australian tennis tradition, just keep following through. That's something and Newk and Rochey spoke to me and Pat about a few years ago before they left. That was their main goal was, not so much winning Davis Cups, but keeping traditional Australian tennis flowing throughout the year, and so far, we are doing all right.