An open letter to Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt

Your run in 2009, to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon evoked memories of your heyday. Spurred on by adrenaline and your Aussie brigade you were within an inch of beating Andy Roddick who was playing the best tennis of his life.

You are indeed a special type of player. You did not possess the biggest serve or the heaviest groundstrokes. But you made up for that and then some, with your shot selection, and above all your heart and grit. It was never pretty viewing, but we all knew that you were always in for a fight. In fact, you thrived on the biggest occasions. Your opponents knew that they needed to be on their game to overcome your tenacity on court.

In recent years we have seen you struggle with the aforementioned injury problems to your hip, toe, et al that have robbed you of the opportunity to try and win another Major before you ride off into the sunset. Yet somehow, after overcoming insurmountable odds and defying doctors, you have managed to prolong your career.

That will to never concede defeat is why you are still on tour. It is also what brought you one of the best nights of your career. It was the culmination of sorts of all the hard yards you had put in to get back in shape in order to compete on the biggest stage. Beating Juan Martin del Potro, under lights, in Arthur Ashe stadium in an epic five-setter, you displayed all those qualities that made us fall in love with you in the first place.

But here’s the thing. Time has healed a large portion of the animosity the crowds had towards you and now they view you as the veteran favourite. As this author as already mentioned, people tend to have tainted memories. They are sitters for the past, and often overlook the things they disliked or could have been averse to.

This inherent mentality of people could explain why people have chosen to overlook their previous distaste for your antics on court. Another explanation could be because in today’s tennis everyone seems to be as emotionally amped up as you are. Whatever the reason, their love for the old-timer rolling back the years on the biggest stage was fairly evident.

Your run at this year’s US Open was exceedingly heartening to witness and one hopes that you have put your injuries behind you. More importantly, one hopes that you can start playing on tour consistently and hopefully competing at the highest level.

Your comments about having one last crack at winning a Major, possibly at the All England Club, may seem a little optimistic but one can only hope that there is some life left in the old legs. Maybe there is an iota of chance that you, a once great tennis player, can bow out on a high which would surely be a beautiful conclusion to your topsy turvy career.

Regardless, you shall go down as arguably one of the greatest battlers the sport has witnessed and that shall probably be your most enduring legacy.

But let us hope that instead of this piece being an obituary to your glittering career it predates one last fairy tale run at one of the big tournaments before you can ride off into the sunset.

C’mon Lleyton!