French Open: Nadal vs. Hewitt Match Preview
One of the few players on the men's tour who does not have a losing record against Rafael Nadal is Leyton Hewitt. However, their meeting in the third round of the French Open on Saturday is likely to vanish away this statistic. In their head-to-head matches, the former world number one from Australia is locked. However, Nadal has been a winner so far in all their meetings on clay including a fourth-round clash in the Roland Garros in 2007.
Hewitt looked like a bystander in their meeting two years ago. The clay court king completely flattened him in three swift sets into the Persian clay. Hewitt holds a reputation of having an iron resolve and lightning movement. He is also the former Wimbledon as well as U.S Open Champion who admires similar qualities in Nadal also.
The 28-years-old said that in case of a correct execution, Hewitt’s game is going to match up well against Nadal. Hoping to play at his best, Hewitt is expecting the contest to be one of the best in the tournament. Beating Nadal in a best-of-three-set match, particularly on this surface is going to be a tough challenge. But the best thing is to relax and play one’s natural game with confidence
The Spaniard on the other hand is also a big fan of Hewitt. However, at the moment, his biggest aim is to become the first player to win five consecutive titles in Paris. Once the duo step on court for their heavyweight showdown, he is likely to display scant regard. According to the 22-year-old world number one, playing against Leyton is always tough and he will definitely have to play well in order to win, although Nadal boasts a 30-0 record at Roland Garros. After playing his best tennis, Nadal is surely going to give him more chances.
Hewitt has two Roland Garros quarter-finals to his name. However, making up for it once again to reach the fourth round would be a major shock. According to Hewitt, self confidence and self belief has given Nadal such great success at a young age. No doubt, he is one of the most unbelievable athletes in the world.
Hewitt likes to have a crack at the big guys in the biggest tournaments they have had and thus puts himself in similar positions like this one. It gives him a sense of joy. It’s going to be a big challenge and both the players have to give their hundred percent to have the best out of it.
In three hours and eight minutes in Paris, Hewitt prevailed with a final score line of 1-6 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. However, he had to utilize all his renowned fighting qualities in order to land his first serve against the World No 74. On the other hand, Argentina's Horacio Zeballos was destroyed in a centre court drubbing by Rafael Nadal. The fifth meeting of the Australian with Nadal is going to be truly stunning.
Nadal ranks Leyton’s game at a very high pedestal and the player himself is a dangerous one. Seeing from Hewitt’s perspective, it looked more of his bad luck as he is once again facing Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in the third round of the tournament. In Roland Garros 2009, he was thoroughly knocked out by Nadal in the third round and thus ended up winning only five of his games. Nadal, who has been on a great run this year, promises to beat him once again in exactly the similar manner like the drubbing in the 2010 French Open in order to get past Denis Istomin in the second round of the Tournament, Hewitt needs five sets while the Spaniard has yet to come close to losing a set.
Both being mentally strong players, there are surely chances for an upset and it could be an intriguing match on Saturday. Hewitt will be cursing his luck by putting a tough fight in this match.
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