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General First nameLleyton Glynn
LastnameHewitt
GenderMale
CountryAustralia
Date of birth1981-02-24
Place of birthAdelaide, Australia


About

Full name is Lleyton Glynn Hewitt...Played Australian Rules Football until age 13, then decided to pursue tennis career...In brief junior ranks, ranked as No. 1 Aussie in 18-under division in 1996 and captured Australian National Grasscourts 18s that year...Also Australian National Hardcourts 18s champion...Enjoys golf and Australian Rules Football (Adelaide Crows fan)...His father, Glynn, is a former Aussie Rules Football player and his mother, Cherilyn, was a physical education teacher...Has one younger sister, Jaslyn (born Feb. 23, 1983), who was No. 1 junior in Australia in 2000, and won her first Challenger title in Canberra in 2004.

Good friend of fellow Aussie golfers Greg Norman and Aaron Baddeley...Supporter of many children’s charitable foundations in Australia - the Starlight Foundation and the McGuinisses-McDermott Cancer Foundation, among others...In August 2002, made Special Olympics his primary charitable cause by becoming a global ambassador for the organization with the primary mission of helping Special Olympics double their international membership by 2005 via clinics and public appearances as he travels the world; launched Special Olympics Tennis Program in Shanghai during 2002 Masters Cup; took part in Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin in 2003; and invites Special Olympics athletes to tennis tournaments, commercial shoots, and other personal appearances around the world.

The Australia Post launched a commemorative Lleyton Hewitt stamp in January 2002 prior to the Australian Open and in 2004 featured a Lleyton Hewitt Limited Edition post card during the Australian Open...Named Young Australian of the Year in Jan. 2003 as part of annual Australia Day honors...Vogue/GQ (Australia) Sportsman of the Year in 2003...Also named Australia’s male athlete of the year in 2002 at the Australian Sports Awards...Voted Most Popular South Australian athlete by the public for three consecutive years (2001-03)...In December 2003, Caddied for Greg Norman at Australian PGA event...Wife, Bec Cartwright (married July 21, 2005 in Sydney) is an Aussie actress...Daughters, Mia Rebecca (born Nov. 29, 2005), Ava Sydney (born Oct. 19, 2010), Son, Cruz (born Dec. 11, 2008)...

Lleyton Glynn Hewitt is a screaming, fist-pumping, chest-thumping firebrand on court. “C’mon!” he yells at himself, finding inspiration in his obsession with the movie “Rocky” about an underdog boxer. At 5-foot-11, he is a solid 170 pounds. The leanness is deceptive, for he grew up playing breakneck Aussie Rules Football and hurls his body with abandon at shots others would let pass. Such intensity made him, at 20 in 2001, the youngest men’s No. 1 ever, 69 years after Wimbledon champ Ellsworth Vines (USA) was at the top, a slightly older 21 in 1932.

He is also the youngest since ATP Rankings began in 1973. Hewitt has won two major championship singles titles—the 2001 U.S. Open over Pete Sampras (USA), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1, and 2002 Wimbledon over David Nalbandian (ARG), 6-1, 6-3, 6-2—as well as the US Open doubles in 2000 with Max Mirnyi (BLR), as of 2008. He has also won 25 other ATP singles titles since turning pro in 1998 at age 16. He was again No. 1 for 2002.

The Australian’s passing shots and especially, his return of serve, are strengths. Hewitt himself is enamoured with his topspin lob. Critics of Hewitt—and he has many—suggest he lacks the tools to become a dominant player, missing a booming serve, a killer return or a crushing groundstroke. All he does is win. Pat Rafter, his compatriot, called Hewitt a “little mongrel” for his refusal to be beaten. He has also been called an “undersized, overcharged kid,” a “racquet-wielding Energizer Bunny,” and “Bart Simpson with a Yonex.” For his part, Hewitt has called Australian fans “stupid”; called a chair umpire a “spastic”; made an insensitive remark about a black line judge at the US Open; dismissed coaches in controversial fashion; and had a long public spat with the ATP after being fined $103,000 for refusing to do a television interview.

Hewitt was born in Adelaide on Feb. 24, 1981. His father Glynn played Australian Rules Football for Richmond and his mother Cherilyn was a professional netballer. Neither sport is for the fainthearted. Their son learned tennis early, and they took him to his first Australian Open as a spectator at age five. Hewitt qualified for the Australian Open in January, 1997, a month before his 16th birthday, the youngest qualifier in the 108-year-old tournament.

He debuted that month on the ATP Rankings at No. 797. Four years later, at 20 years, nine months, he was No. 1, undercutting Jimmy Connors (USA), No. 1 on the ATP computer in 1974 at 22 years, three months in 1974. Vines, at 21, was three months older than Lleyton.

His precocious talent was displayed at age 16 when he captured his hometown title at Adelaide over Jason Stoltenberg (AUS), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in 1998. The five men he beat (including Andre Agassi in the semis) had a combined total of 1,108 career victories; Hewitt had none until then. He became the lowest-ranked player, at No. 550, to win in tour history. In 1999, Hewitt won his first clay-court title (Delray Beach), his only victory in four finals.

He made his Davis Cup debut that July against the United States, launching the successful drive to the Cup with a leadoff win over Todd Martin, 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-0. Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov promised to administer a “tennis lesson” to the brash upstart in the semi-final.

Instead, the Russian was humbled in straight sets. Lleyton led his nation to three more finals, losing to Spain (2000) and France (2001), defeating Spain in 2003 as he set the pace, downing Juan Carlos Ferrero, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2.

Hewitt won four titles in 2000, the first teenager to win that many since Pete Sampras a decade earlier. He got his first major championship title, a doubles at the U.S., youngest male, at 19 years, 6 months, to win a major doubles in the Open era. At Flushing Meadow the following year, he defeated No. 7 seed Kafelnikov in the semis, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, and Sampras in the final, 7-6 (4-7), 6-1, 6-1, to claim his first singles major championship.

Hewitt won five other tournaments in 2001, including the year-end Masters, over Sebastien Grosjean (FRA), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, appropriately in Sydney, and was at the top of the class. Some thought him a caretaker in the top spot until a more skilled player arrived to succeed the likes of Sampras and Agassi. But not only did he hold the ranking, he added a second major, Wimbledon, defeating David Nalbandian ARG, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 and defended his Masters title in Shanghai over Ferrero, 7-5, 7-5, 2-6, 2-6, 6-4. He dropped only two sets at Wimbledon to become the first Australian in 15 years to win on Centre Court. Pat Cash was the last. His dream of being the first Aussie to rule his country since Mark Edmondson in 1976 was squashed in the 2005 final, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 triumph for Russian Marat Safin.

Bio Courtesy Bud Collins, written 2008.

Media


Archive statistics Career1999 - 2016
Tournament wins12
Matches238
Match wins133


Tournament wins 2014 - Brisbane International (ATP World Tour 250 series)
2014 - Hall of Fame Championships (ATP)
2010 - Halle (ATP)
2009 - US Clay Courts (Open)
2003 - Indian Wells (ATP)
2002 - Indian Wells (ATP)
2002 - Masters cup (ATP)
2002 - ATP World Tour Finals (ATP)
2002 - Wimbledon (Grandslam)
2001 - US Open (Grandslam)
2001 - ATP World Tour Finals (ATP)
2001 - Masters cup (ATP)


Tournaments Australian Open - 2016 Australian Open - 2015 Wimbledon - 2015 US Open - 2015 US Clay Courts - 2015 Queens Club Tournament - 2015 Brisbane International - 2015 Miami Open - 2015 Rosmalen - 2015 Washington Open - 2015 Australian Open - 2014 Wimbledon - 2014 Roland Garros - 2014 US Open - 2014 Canadian International Championships - 2014 Cincinnati - 2014 US Clay Courts - 2014 Queens Club Tournament - 2014 Brisbane International - 2014 Bavarian International Championships - 2014 Memphis Indoor - 2014 Delray Beach - 2014 Indian Wells - 2014 Miami Open - 2014 Madrid Open - 2014 Hall of Fame Championships - 2014 Washington Open - 2014 Australian Open - 2013 Wimbledon - 2013 Roland Garros - 2013 US Open - 2013 Pacific Coast Championship - 2013 US Clay Courts - 2013 Queens Club Tournament - 2013 China Open - 2013 Shanghai - 2013 Austria Open - 2013 Brisbane International - 2013 Memphis Indoor - 2013 Indian Wells - 2013 Miami Open - 2013 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur - 2013 Hall of Fame Championships - 2013 Atlanta - 2013 Washington Open - 2013 Australian Open - 2012 Wimbledon - 2012 Roland Garros - 2012 US Open - 2012 New South Wales Championships - 2012 Olympics, Olympic Games - 2012 Cincinnati - 2012 Queens Club Tournament - 2012 Shanghai - 2012 Valencia Open - 2012 Hall of Fame Championships - 2012 Stockholm Open - 2012 Australian Open - 2011 Wimbledon - 2011 Pacific Coast Championship - 2011 Memphis Indoor - 2011 Indian Wells - 2011 Halle - 2011 Eastbourne - 2011 Atlanta - 2011 Winston Salem - 2011 Australian Open - 2010 Wimbledon - 2010 Roland Garros - 2010 US Open - 2010 Halle - 2010 Wimbledon - 2009 US Clay Courts - 2009 Australian Open - 2008 Wimbledon - 2008 Wimbledon - 2007 Roland Garros - 2007 Canadian International Championships - 2007 Wimbledon - 2006 Roland Garros - 2006 US Open - 2006 Australian Open - 2005 Wimbledon - 2005 US Open - 2005 Indian Wells - 2005 Australian Open - 2004 Wimbledon - 2004 Roland Garros - 2004 US Open - 2004 Paris Masters - 2004 ATP World Tour Finals - 2004 Masters cup - 2004 Australian Open - 2003 US Open - 2003 Indian Wells - 2003 Wimbledon - 2002 Roland Garros - 2002 US Open - 2002 Paris Masters - 2002 ATP World Tour Finals - 2002 Indian Wells - 2002 Masters cup - 2002 Wimbledon - 2001 Roland Garros - 2001 US Open - 2001 ATP World Tour Finals - 2001 Masters cup - 2001 Australian Open - 2000 Wimbledon - 2000 Roland Garros - 2000 US Open - 2000 Italian International Championships - 2000 Masters cup - 2000 Wimbledon - 1999