The Strange Case of Lleyton Hewitt: The Unsung Hero
Atish Home Chowdhury
After 20 years of non-stop action in the Tennis court yard, the legend Lleyton Hewitt finally called it a day at Melbourne Park on Thursday with tears rolling down his cheeks. His last match remained an unceremonious one owing to Hewitt’s shocking defeat (2-6, 4-6, 4-6) to world No. 8 David Ferrer of Spain.
Hewitt’s impact on the world of Tennis is huge. He is someone who never shies away from accepting defeats at one hand and start improving his strategy from the very next game. The 35-year-old Tennis legend created headlines for the first time in 2001 on winning the US Open Men’s Single just within a few years after his international debut.
He successfully beat
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I love coming out here and competing. I have been so fortunate to have opportunity 20 years in a row. I feel honored to have had this support and love from this crowd; it means so much for me,” emotional Hewitt said immediately after his final match just before walking off into the sunset.
Hewitt’s Top 5 Memorable Victories
• Roger Federer Vs Lleyton Hewitt 2014: The two legends clashed against each other in Brisbane International Final 2014 which saw Hewitt winning the match with 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
• Hewitt Vs Juan Martin Del Potro 2013: This was another big moment in Hewitt’s career as he locked horn against the Argentine Tennis wizard Juan Martin Del Potro in 2013 US Open. He won the match comfortably in the end with 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1.
• Davis Cup Quarter Final 2001: In the initial year of his career, Hewitt proved extremely determined against Guasavo Kuerten, who was world’s numero uno Tennis star at that time. The 20-year-old Hewitt played stunning in this match defeating Kuerten in straight sets to reach the
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Hewitt was suffering due to Hip injury during those days. He stunned the 18-yer-old Rafael Nadal producing one of his finest performances ever largely dominating this five-set match.
• Hewitt Vs Andy Roddick 2005: In this famous clash, Hewitt was face-to-face against Andy Roddick who was world’s second ranking Tennis player at that time. Hewitt rushed to his fourth grand slam title finale by beating Roddick and took important leads in the next two sets in tie-breakers.
Lleyton Hewitt’s Top Rivalries
Though, Lleyton Hewitt achieved miraculous success in the initial years of his career, luck didn’t favor him much in the ensuing years. His enmity against Roger Federer and Andy Roddick is well known.
The Aussie player locked horns against Roger Federer for record 27 times. He got some success in the initial years beating the Swiss 7-2 but with Federer’s astonishing comeback in the later years the record soon changed to 18-9. This very statistics saw the rise of Federer era. It won’t be wrong to say that Hewitt was the best Tennis player in Post Sampras era and pre Federer–Nadal era.
Hewitt also encountered against the gutsy Andy Roddick quite a number of times in his career. They clashed against each other 14 times with Hewitt and Roddick winning 7-7 wins
She used to practice the tennis by hitting the ball against a wall with anything she found. Then, her shy nature was another barrier during her sport career. She either preferred to be alone or be in the company of older people, which stopped her being a part of the team. “She admitted her shy nature to an Australian newspaper” (Encyclopedia, 2004). Further, she faced racial comments and bias behaviour during her career. Tatz & Tatz 2000 (as cited in Sean Gorman, 2010) highlighted the racial comments by a senior Victorian politician during 1980 Wimbeldon tournament when he said, “he hoped she “wouldn’t go walkabout like some old boong”. However, Goolagong raised as a star among these racial comments and mostly remained silent. “She chose to let her work on the court speak for itself and remain mostly silent” (Net Industries, 2015). She emerged as a rising star amongst white
In conclusion, Arthur Ashe successfully accomplished his American Dream, earned admiration from many and was recognized as one of the greatest tennis player in the country. As one of the first African American male tennis player who overcame inequality, he became an inspiration to others and encouraged them to work hard for their dreams. It had been years ever since his death in 1993, yet his legacy still live on.
Muhammad Ali is recognized as one of the best boxers of all time. Muhammad Ali was the world heavyweight champion of the world 3 different times. Ali ended his career with 37 total knockouts, one of the most ever.
Use of graphite became popular when another legendary professional, Arthur Ashe, began using Head Presige’s one-hundred percent graphite racquet (“Tennis Nuts” 2017). The graphite racquet became extremely popular because of the stiffness. Even though the racquet was quite heavy, the main characteristic that made the graphite racquet so popular was the reduced vibration when a player hit the ball off the racquet (“Evolution of Tennis Rackets” 2017). The graphite racquet continued to be popular and began to be used by many other professional tennis players as well, such as Pete Sampras, who won fourteen Grand Slam titles in his career. Sampras used a graphite racquet named the Wilson Pro Staff. The Wilson Pro Staff was introduced in 1983, and tennis players seemed to enjoy this racquet because of the distinct feel it gave off. (“Tennis Nuts” 2017) Another graphite racquet called the Dunlop Max 200G debuted in 1980. (“Tennis Nuts” 2017) This racquet was used by legend John McEnroe and one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, Steffi Graf. The Dunlop Max 200G was lighter in weight compared to most graphite tennis
...aying tennis. Laver still continues to live his life normally playing both tennis and golf with his friends but occasionally has to cancel due to arthritis. In an interview Laver said he believes it’s, “wear and tear” as he pointed at his wrist which flicked a countless amount of brilliant winners on court. Laver is said to be one of the most humble and normal people even after being the only man to ever win all four of the Grand Slam events in one year twice. Unfortunately, even though Laver had dominated the tennis tour throughout most of the 1960’s the golden era of tennis was a decade away so Laver sometimes goes unrecognized. In my opinion Rod Laver is what a truly great tennis player should consist of not letting fame get to your head and always staying humble. Laver remains a huge inspiration in my tennis as well as other players amateur to professional.
Achievements Off The Court Exceeded His Extraordinary Accomplishments As A Tennis Champion.” Philly.com 9 Feb 1993: n.p.
However, I was always an optimist and tried to convince myself that I could defeat him (Yeah right!). We approached the table and shook hands. In the few initial minutes, we warmed up, just casually rallying the ball around, but even then he was playing better tennis than I ever had. The coach then blew his whistle which concluded the warm up and signaled the commencement of the match. At this point in time, I tried to swallow all the fear and anxiety that I had and to face my opponent valiantly and courageously. The match began and before I had fully realized, he had won the first game 21-05. He had won it with the utmost ease, returning even my best shots without any struggles or even remote difficulty. I tried not to feel discouraged, saying to myself that he still had two more games to win and that I would not give in without a fight.
...it better myself. The obstacles placed before him did not intimidate him; instead, those barriers gave him more desire to accomplish great things. The class and dignity that Ashe exemplified was virtually nonexistent at that time! In the heat of competition, he was always calm and collected; he never lost his temper, despite the situation. During his daily life, he was a very respectful man who never had anything bad to say about anyone. He exercised the golden rule in everything he did: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Arthur Ashe would make the perfect role model for anyone trying to make a name for himself or herself. The word "legend" is the only word that can describe Ashe and all the things he did for the game of tennis!
Years of playing the game and not improving, Gawande incidentally finds himself play tennis with a young man who is a tennis couch. The young man gives Gawande a tip about keeping his feet under his body when hitting the ball. At first he is uncertain, stating, “My serve had always been the best part of my game….. With a few minutes of tinkering, he’d added at least ten miles an hour to my serve. I was serving harder than I ever had in my life” (Gawande, 2011, p.3).
Not only was Joe Namath and the Jets or Dr. J and the 76er’s were sports fans raving about. Billie Jean King was a very famous tennis player. She was challenged by Bobby Riggs which became known as Battle of the Sexes. She defeated Bobby Riggs and had a huge effect on society and woman’s movement. On the April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron slammed in the 715th home run of his career, knocking off Babe Ruth’s record.
Despite the actual Battle of the Sexes match being incredibly well shot and riveting, there isn't much other tennis. What we do get is a thorough exploration of BJK's budding sexuality and exploration of a same-sex relationship. It's sweetly done and handled with great respect. However, this wistful romance all occurs while King is still married to her husband Larry, and this is where the film lost me. I watched closely waiting for the moment when consequences would come, but ultimately the movie has nothing good to say about commitment in relationship, and instead keeps the focus on the positive aspect of loving whoever you love and not being ashamed.
Hearing the loud “thump” as the ball hits the racket is extremely satisfying, especially if your life now revolves around this fast-paced and exhilarating sport. Tennis is an outdoor game played by two individuals or pairs of players on a clay or grass court that’s divided by a low net. Each game is played with tennis rackets and small, yellow elastic balls. Tennis was first introduced in Wales and the United Kingdom in 1873 by “Major Walter Wingfield” (tennistheme.com). While most sports are easy to pick up, tennis takes extreme dedication to learn how to play the game, to perfect the amount of technique it takes, as well as its great impact on one’s personal life.
Tennis is played by many professionals all around the world. For professionals, such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and many others, there are four grand
What King was trying to show was that women are as strong as men but in different ways. Not many people know about the Battle of the Sexes and almost no one has heard about the “Mother’s Day Massacre”. That was another tennis match in between a male and a female player. Bobby Riggs and Margarethe Court, at that time the world number one female tennis player, played against each other and Court lost 2-6 1-6. Court’s loss gave King the courage to go out and beat Riggs for his comments about women after he beat Court.