I’ve been waiting out the egg and spoon events that comprise the majority of the tennis season in the lead up to the Australian Open to end before posting, however, the Roger Rasheed/Lleyton Hewitt bust up calls for some comment.
AN extraordinary expletive-laden tirade from Lleyton Hewitt is thought to be behind coach Roger Rasheed severing ties with the fiery tennis ace.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the final straw for Rasheed came after Hewitt yelled at his coach of three years throughout his loss to unheralded Russian Igor Kunitsyn in the Adelaide International on Thursday night.
After Hewitt lost 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 4-6 to the Russian, the coach and player had a heated row in a deserted locker room at Memorial Drive.
When Rasheed could not calm down Hewitt, who continued his rage – fuelled partly by his concern over a calf injury that had flared during the match – the coach stormed out of the sheds.
At 7.06pm on Friday, 24 hours after the confrontation, Rasheed issued a press release to announce his partnership with Hewitt was over.
This is less about the loss of speed, injury or a high position in the rankings, this is about the reasliastion that Hewitt doesn’t have anything left to offer as a player of note. His days as a top rank player are over. It’s been a slow decline but the signs are everywhere, his game hasn’t evolved beyond hard work and maintaining his speed, but that can only get you so far, you’ve got to have something more, and Hewitt’s got nothing left beyond the odd upset of a real topranked player and a maintainance of his ranking in the top twenty.
Sure, because of his workrate and speed the top guys will still have to beat Hewitt (he never beats himself), but beat him they will, because in the end they have something more in the bag – more penetrating shots, a greater selection, plus equal speed and determination. More and more Hewitt will be seen as a transitory number one, a placeholder for the top spot until the real talented players of his generation came of age.
Eleswhere: Linda Pearce of the SMH comments, I couldn’t agree more.
3 responses so far ↓
julie // Jan 7, 2007 at 10:13 am
LLeyton cannot help it when he gets injured so many times. If he played in Sydney this week with his injury – he may not be fit for the Australian Open. He needs to not have his parents around so much. His father is no help with his tennis.
Phil // Jan 7, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Sampras and just about every player in Hewitt’s position couldn’t help it if they got injured, the inability to stay fit for extended periods of time is a sure sign of decline in sport. Hewitt’s difficulties in this are compounded by him reaching his limits as a player.
And yes, I agree he needs to lose a couple of monkeys on his back and travel and live lighter, things might be easier for those who actually want him to see him improve……like Rasheed.
Spinopsys » Blog Archive » A short break // Jan 10, 2007 at 7:04 am
[...] I’m a bit toasted from the Christmas retail grind and a bit tired of talking bikes, so I taking a small break from Spinopsys. I’ll be back here in a week, unless something big breaks. Not that I won’t be blogging, during that time there will still be some cycling related blogging going on at Shut Up and Drink the Kool Aid!. I’ll also be posting tennis related stuff at Sidelined and political stuff at Larvatus Prodeo. [...]