Lleyton Hewitt, Past his Prime or Ready to Shine?

"This year, things have been hard because I’ve had so many niggling injuries and that’s hard on anyone, especially in my style of game. I was number one or two only a year and a half ago, so I feel like I can still get back up there. ” –Lleyton Hewitt

What do we make of Lleyton’s words? He seems to have the confidence; Does he have the skills in his current game to rise back up in the rankings?

Hewitt doesn’t have the natural talent that most former No.1 players possessed at the height of their careers. When you look at his shots, you can only respect what the Aussie has accomplished. His forehand is decent, but nothing spectacular; the same goes for his serve. The only above-average shot in Hewitt’s arsenal is his backhand. So how did this guy make it to the number one spot, years ago?

Simply put, being a brat helped a great deal. Hewitt needs to be as pumped up as he can be in order to compete with more talented players across the net.

I admire Lleyton for coming this far almost solely on attitude and his unequalled fighting mentality (although Nadal comes close). By the sound of his words, the competitive fire is still burning. Something which has, rightfully so, been in question this past year.

Hewitt married in July of 2005 and became a father that November — two good reasons to spend a little less time on your tennis and a bit more on your personal life. Now that a year has passed, winning trophies might become important again for the two-time Slam champion. Or are these recent expressions merely a charade? When it comes to Hewitt, that’s hard to imagine.

"I was number one or two only a year and a half ago, so I feel like I can still get back up there.."

Still, things aren’t quite the same, currently, as they were at that time. Let’s take a look at the
rankings:

ATP Top-20 as of July 4, 2005

1. Roger Federer
2. Lleyton Hewitt
3. Rafael Nadal
4. Andy Roddick
5. Marat Safin
6. Andre Agassi
7. Nikolay Davydenko
8. Guillermo Canas
9. Thomas Johansson
10. David Nalbandian
11. Tim Henman
12. Mariano Puerta
13. Gaston Gaudio
14. Joachim Johansson
15. Guillermo Coria
16. Radek Stepanek
17. Richard Gasquet
18. Fernando Gonzalez
19. Ivan Ljubicic
20. Tommy Robredo

ATP Top-20 as of October 9, 2006

1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Ivan Ljubicic
4. David Nalbandian
5. Nikolay Davydenko
6. Andy Roddick
7. Tommy Robredo
8. James Blake
9. Marcos Baghdatis
10. Fernando Gonzalez
11. Thomas Berdych
12. Radek Stepanek
13. Mario Ancic
14. Tommy Haas
15. David Ferrer
16. Novak Djokovic
17. Juan Carlos Ferrero
18. Lleyton Hewitt
19. Jarkko Nieminen
20. Andy Murray

Hewitt is 25 years old and will turn 26 in February. Note the young fellows in bold. They will likely improve over the next year and Hewitt will have his hands full playing against these guys. Will he be able to keep up with them?

Trashing Djokovic at this year’s US Open sends out a message but you can bet the young Serb won’t be such a pushover the next time the two square off. And, oh yeah, that Swiss guy’s game hasn’t exactly been in decline.

Lleyton Hewitt will have a tough task ahead of him when he rejoins the circuit in 2007. However, one should never write off a fighter; being behind the eight ball tends to bring out their best.