Lleyton Hewitt struggled to put a brave face on the end of his Australian Open dream on Sunday after his defeat in the final against Marat Safin.
Hewitt, who had spent the past nine months carefully tailoring his schedule and training regime for an all-out assault on the title, said he had no regrets following his agonising 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 loss.
But the pugnacious Australian admitted that coming so close to fulfilling his childhood dream, only to fail at the last obstacle, was a desperately bitter pill to swallow.
”I’m sure in a couple of days I’ll look back and think that it’s been a great achievement,” said Hewitt, who had been aiming to become the first Australian winner since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
”I’ll have no regrets, and I’ve put absolutely everything into this tournament. I’ll be able to walk out with my head held high.
”But right at the moment, I’m human and I’m disappointed. You know, to come that close, train so hard to put yourself in a position … it’s hard to take at the moment.
”But my game’s definitely better than where it was 18 months ago — making a US Open final, a Masters Cup final, and now an Australian Open final, I’m obviously doing something right.
”It just would have been nice to get one of them.”
Hewitt said he had been powerless to respond when Safin raised his game after a disastrous first set, when he was paralysed by nerves and succumbed in a little more than 20 minutes.
”I feel like I got out of the blocks well but he hadn’t hit his stride either,” Hewitt said. ”But he’s an awesome player and he just picked it up. I didn’t feel like I played badly out there, he was just too good.”
Hewitt denied that a foot fault call that went against him when he was broken in the seventh game of the third set had affected the outcome.
The Australian had raged at a line official following the ruling, earning a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. It heralded the beginning of the end for Hewitt, who also lost the next five games as Safin took control.
”The actual foot fault was not important, but losing that service game was,” Hewitt said. ”But he just raised his game from that point on.”
Hewitt, who enjoyed partisan support from a fiercely patriotic crowd in the Rod Laver Arena that included his friend and golf legend Greg Norman, said his fans had been partly responsible for carrying him to the final.
”It’s an awesome feeling to have the whole country behind you,” Hewitt said.
”The crowd and the adrenaline and playing in your home grand slam all combine to going out there and pushing yourself just that little bit further.”
Hewitt, who prior to the tournament had complained about the Rebound Ace hard-court playing surface at Melbourne Park, refused to blame the court for his defeat.
”No, Marat obviously beat me. He was too good,” he said. — Sapa-AFP