Hewitt gone til Roland Garros

[SBI]

Lleyton Hewitt refuses to give up on his grand slam dream despite revealing he has undergone a second round of career-saving hip surgery.

Hewitt, who turns 29 in February, has vowed to return before the French Open in May after going under the knife in Hobart.

Dr Michael Pritchard, who repaired the former world No.1's left hip in August 2008, operated on his right hip this time around after Hewitt first suffered the injury before his opening match at the Hopman Cup in Perth early in January.

Link

Not good news for Hewitt or our Davis Cup team. I think he just broke into the world's top 20 with his result in Melbourne, and now misses out on any opportunities to go further with five Masters events before Roland Garros. Might see him drop out of a seeding, too.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Good, can't stand him. One less player in the draw that will be thashed by a top seed anyway.

 

[SBI]

Well he does get replaced by someone like the world No. 97, so not quite true...

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Well at least that no97 might be less annoying. If it means JA won't blow his load over the no97 then fine. I'd rather Tomic play than Hewitt.

 

[mattys123]

Disappointing for our best player in years, he has a better record then Rafter, Cash etc, so I don't know how far back you have to go to find a better Australian Tennis Player, male or female.

He should retire now, but if he wants to continue, this time he should take a whole 12 months off and only return for the Australian summer next year.

He did still make the round of 16, not a bad effort for a player with a terrible hip injury.

 

[Dr Awkward]

Disappointing.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Cheering injuries, pretty poor effort.

Hardly, I just said I am glad he is gone. Boring to watch and he has commentators blowing his load over him even though he is not much better than Tomic and really Tomic has more potential to win slams.

 

[danielnajdek]

I thought there was a reason he lost to Roger

 

[mad_eagle]

Well at least that no97 might be less annoying. If it means JA won't blow his load over the no97 then fine. I'd rather Tomic play than Hewitt.

Stop tugging yourself off over Tomic. He's going to be a bigger cry baby than Hewitt.

Too bad for Lleyton. He needs to stop playing the Hopman Cup, it's a bit of a curse for him. First time he played there he got Chicken Pox, then did his ankle another time and now his hip!
Not a bad effort at the open now that we know this, not dropping a set in the first three rounds.

 

[pepsi]

Second major hip operation. I know Hewitt wants to be in the top 10 again badly and I hope for him that he gets there, but is this his body telling him something?

 

[damochandler]

one step closer to retirement sadly. that hip will keep being a concerne for a long time

 

[MaccaKnowsBest]

Too bad about the injury but do us all a favour and retire. The game has gone passed you.

 

[matt_897]

Guess that injury at Hopman Cup was more serious than we thought, it really wasn't noticeable at all in Sydney/AO, really is a shame.

Thought he was a chance to maybe make a run in either Indian Wells or Miami, especially given his good record at IW. His ranking will slip a bit, loses about 500 points, should fall around the 30 or so mark, so hopefully everything goes alright and maybe he's able to come back by Madrid or Roland Garros. The other thing is surely this might be the last time he'll try after a major injury, especially if the hip goes again.

Disappointing for our Davis Cup team, but the match against Taiwan, we're still probably favourites, Tomic should get his chance now, maybe a tad unfair on Ball but completely understandable. Who'll get that 4th spot now? Might be time to call Paul Hanley up again so the doubles is solid.

 

[SBI]

Too bad about the injury but do us all a favour and retire. The game has gone passed you.

Seriously, just because he can't compete against the top five or so players doesn't mean the game has gone past him. He's easily a top 20 player, which is still a pretty good achievement for a guy in his late twenties.

 

[Ricketts]

He did still make the round of 16,

He beat two qualifiers, so it was a pretty flattering run to the round of 16.

I thought there was a reason he lost to Roger

Yeah. Unlucky for Hewey, would have beaten him otherwise.

 

[IBleedBrownNGold]

It's a shame his career is likely to end injury-riddled, but surely this stands as a bit of a lesson to Tennis Australia about the development of the sport in this country. For years, they ignored anyone who wasn't Lleyton, and now they have their karma served to them on a plate.

They should learn to embrace all players equally. And I think they should start with Tomic. I'm not a fan of whiners, but he looks like he could develop into some kind of player and at least has some sound tennis brain. His father sounds like a complete twit, but as long as it doesn't turn into another Damir Dokic... it should be manageable. Those 2 other young blokes (can't remember their names) that played in the Open, who are 16/17 should also be elevated. Give them a bit of exposure, put them out there... you just never know what you're going to get. Maybe the next Lleyton? Maybe better?

 

[Selective Retention]

Not good news for Hewitt or our Davis Cup team.

Or Steve Johnson who goes to the same surgeon and has a similar problem

 

[andrepetz]

Disappointing for our Davis Cup team, but the match against Taiwan, we're still probably favourites, Tomic should get his chance now, maybe a tad unfair on Ball but completely understandable. Who'll get that 4th spot now? Might be time to call Paul Hanley up again so the doubles is solid.

Well Mark Philippoussis is making a return in a challenger this week, maybe we should call him up?

But seriously, Lu is a pretty good player for Taiwan, so we want to make sure that we definitely take the doubles. Hanley/Ball seems a solid doubles combination.

 

[gaelictiogar]

Second major hip operation. I know Hewitt wants to be in the top 10 again badly and I hope for him that he gets there, but is this his body telling him something?

Yes. Surely he knows there won't be any more slams or even finals. He has had a great career reaching the very top, won slams been number one. He has seen it and done it. Surely he is not blind to the inevitability that it is over. Is it worth it to reach the 16 or 32 of a few more slams? No.

 

[likka]

Pfft... he's been gone for many years, his hip has very little to do with his prolonged slide.

Fix his hip and he still hits it with less pace than most of the girls.

 

[XFactor1979]

there was an article in the paper this morning after hewitt and his fanatics

the fanatics were a hindrance to hewitt as opposed to a help

to you fanatic bogans SOME OF US are TRYING to watch the tennis

 

[matt_897]

Well Mark Philippoussis is making a return in a challenger this week, maybe we should call him up?

But seriously, Lu is a pretty good player for Taiwan, so we want to make sure that we definitely take the doubles. Hanley/Ball seems a solid doubles combination.

Didn't think Mark would actually give it another go, watch him lose fairly easily, I watched him play on one of thsoe Champions Tour things on ONE, wasn't very good.

Lu has been in fairly ordinary form i think although that can always change in a Davis Cup tie, we still should comfortable favourites for the tie

 

[damochandler]

there was an article in the paper this morning after hewitt and his fanatics

the fanatics were a hindrance to hewitt as opposed to a help

to you fanatic bogans SOME OF US are TRYING to watch the tennis

oh what a surprise. bunch of morons they are

 

[XFactor1979]

you'd wonder how phillipousis would go on the legends circuit?

that boy (phillipoussis) has no sense of humour, an intense kid, prefers fast cars and fast women