Now I'm not the biggest Hewitt fan, but as far as I can tell he has every right to be angry. To ask for something and get the complete opposite is a disgrace. For a proffesional athlete, especially these days against the likes of Federer and Nadal, you need every little edge you can get.Hewitt court blue: Open secret weapon misfires
The Kenthurst home of tennis star Lleyton Hewitt.
Will Swanton
December 2, 2007
C'MON! Even when the ball is in his court — in his own backyard — it seems Lleyton Hewitt just can't hit a winner these days.
Desperate to make next month's Australian Open title his — after years of whingeing about how the old "slow" surface at Rod Laver Arena has cheated him — Hewitt decided to have a replica of the newly relaid court, complete with the latest "fast" Plexicushion surface, built at his $3 million Sydney hideaway.
But the tennis gods — presumably named Roger and Rafael — had other ideas.
Or perhaps Hewitt's father, Glynn, who is understood to have been overseeing construction of the new courts, didn't grasp his son's very specific instructions with the same level of intensity we've come to expect from a Hewitt.
The upshot is that despite Hewitt and his wife, Bec, receiving council approval to build two tennis courts on their property, a major bungle within the Hewitt camp has resulted in neither court being constructed with the blue Plexicushion surface.
Hewitt is furious.
"Lleyton's court is as slow as a wet week," a source told The Sunday Age. "He's immensely, immensely disappointed. It's not what he expected and not what he wanted."
The mix-up has scuppered Hewitt's plan to hole up with Bec, baby Mia, and coach Tony Roche at his Kenthurst property, north-west of Sydney, over the coming weeks to fine-tune his Australian Open preparation.
Instead, he will be forced to practise mainly at Sydney's Homebush Bay, where the courts have the quicker surface.
Hewitt's long-running battle with Tennis Australia over the slow Rebound Ace surface at the Australian Open came to a head almost two years ago when the former world No.1 screamed "fix the courts" during a disappointing second-round defeat against Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela.
Frustrated at failing to nab the elusive title — despite conquering Wimbledon and the US Open — Hewitt badgered former Open director Paul McNamee about the Melbourne Park courts being too slow and said Australia's best players, who mostly prefer a quicker surface, should get what they wanted.
Earlier this year, he got his wish: the Rebound Ace surfaces were ripped up and replaced with the faster Plexicushion surface in readiness for next year's championship.
Unfortunately, Hewitt's cunning plan to have his own replica court at home on which to sharpen his winning edge has fallen wide of the line.
"I haven't seen the court at Lleyton's home, but my understanding is that it was not built by the same company we used for our courts in Melbourne," Australian Open director Craig Tiley said. "The WM Loud company are the only suppliers of this court in Australia."
Hewitt's manager, David Drsydale, confirmed the bungle.
Hewitt's appearance in the final in 2005 was the only time he has advanced past the fourth round in his home Grand Slam.
I think it's pretty ordinary that this article is written in a negative way against Hewitt.
! Hewitt has no hope!
