The presence of Wimbledon champion Roger Federer would inspire former world number one Lleyton Hewitt to reproduce his best tennis in September’s Davis Cup semi-final here, Australian captain John Fitzgerald said on Monday.
Defending champion Hewitt had a wretched Wimbledon late last month when he was knocked out in the first round by giant Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic and in the process lost his world number one ranking to Andre Agassi.
Fitzgerald spoke up for Hewitt, who became only the second men’s champion in the 126 years of Wimbledon to lose in the first round.
The non-playing captain said the Davis Cup tie against a Switzerland team featuring Federer would bring out the best in Hewitt.
It has been a dire time for 22-year-old Hewitt, who also changed his coach and become embroiled in a legal battle with men’s tennis governing body, the Association of Tennis Professionals.
Federer’s form makes him an opponent for the Australians to fear for the September 19-21 tie on the Rebound Ace hard court at Melbourne Park.
Fitzgerald rates the world number three potentially as one of the game’s greats.
”Now that he’s broken through for his first grand slam he’ll be very hard to stop from here,” he said.
”It’s a difficult task to beat him, but form’s a funny thing — it comes and goes.
”I hope by September our guys are peaking and Roger’s not.”
Fitzgerald also believes Mark Philippoussis, whom Federer beat in the Wimbledon final, will have something to prove when the two meet in the Davis Cup singles in front of his hometown crowd.
”Mark has never played Davis Cup in his home town before and he was talking a lot about it — even at Wimbledon when his mind was on other matters.”
Hewitt has not played since Wimbledon and is due to return to action in the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles on July 28 before the US Open next month and the Davis Cup semi-final. – Sapa-AFP