Tennis News: Lleyton Hewitt optimistic for 2011
Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia has claimed that he is training harder than anybody else is for the Australian Open 2011 which gets underway in January 2011.
In 2005, Hewitt made it to the finals of the Australian Open in the Men’s singles category where he was beaten by Russian Marat Safin. Since then, Hewitt has been struggling to clinch the title on home turf. However, he claims that he is preparing harder
for the tournament than anyone on the circuit.
"The focus for me is always making a schedule that best prepares me for the four majors, and I think at the moment I've done that. I've been (training) at least six days a week, sometimes seven days a week, going as hard as I can. Personally I don't feel there's
probably anybody else out there who has trained as hard as I have for the last two months. Between the Hopman Cup and next week at Kooyong, I'm guaranteed six bloody tough matches, and that's exactly what I need at the moment," stated Hewitt.
Presently ranked no. 54 in the world, Lleyton lost to Swiss champion Roger Federer in the fourth round of the 2010 Australian Open. Considering Hewitt's current regime, the professional is expected to rise in terms of his performance.
He added that he wants to play his best tennis since he is feeling 100 per cent ready for the year’s first Grand Slam.
Generally considered a good grass-court player, Lleyton lost to Spaniard Rafael Nadal at the 2010 French Open. According to Hewitt, he was focusing more on his game for the grass court season and that everything fell into place when he defeated Federer at Halle
and fared well at the 2010 Wimbledon Championship.
"The pleasing thing for me was Roger on grass is a really tough player to beat any time of the year and to beat a guy like Roger in a final of a tournament as well after I'd lost so many matches to him; that gave me a lot of confidence," added Lleyton.
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