Players > Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt - Australia  

Birth Date: 2/24/1981 Age: 31
Birth Place: Adelaide, Australia Residence: Nassau, Bahamas
Height: 5'11" (180 cm) Weight: 170 lbs (77 kg)
Year Turned Pro: 1998 (14 years on tour) Plays: Right-handed
Official Website: www.lleytonandbechewitt.com Twitter:
Bio
Currently ranked No. 30 in the world, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt has 30 career ATP Tour titles – 28 as a singles player.
He has two Grand Slam singles titles and one doubles Slam. He has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the world, first achieving that rank on Nov. 19, 2001. His highest doubles ranking is No. 18, reached on Oct. 23, 2000.
Hewitt was the youngest qualifier in the history of the Australian Open in 1997 at age 15 years, 11 months. In 1998, he became the youngest tour winner in 10 years, taking the title at Adelaide at 16 years, 10 months. He was also the lowest-ranked winner (No. 550) in ATP history. He finished the season ranked No. 100.
In 1999, he became the first teenager to win four titles in a season since Pete Sampras did in 2000. He won Adelaide, Sydney, Scottsdale and Queen’s, and reached the semifinals at the US Open, losing to Sampras. He also became the youngest male (19 years, 6 months) to win a Grand Slam doubles title, doing so at the US Open. He finished the year ranked No. 7.
In 2001, he became the youngest player to finish No. 1 in the ATP rankings, achieving it at age 20 years, eight months. He won six titles, including his first Slam, defeating Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals and Sampras in the final.
He repeated as No. 1 in 2002, becoming only the fourth player to be ranked No. 1 every week of the year, and the seventh to carry the ranking for two straight years. He won five titles and led the ATP with 61 match wins. Chief among those was his conquest of Wimbledon, his second Grand Slam singles title. He also won at San Jose, Indian Wells, Queen’s Club and Shanghai. At one point, he reached 10 straight finals. He reached the semifinals of the US Open, but lost to Andre Agassi. He also earned a career-best $4.62 million.
His reign at No. 1 ended in 2003 on April 27 after 75 straight weeks at the top. He suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first defending champion to lose in the first round at Wimbledon in 36 years, falling to Ivo Karlovic. He won two titles overall.
In 2004, he doubled his title total to four and was strong in the Slams, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the final at the US Open. He finished third overall.
In 2005, he won just one title – at Sydney – but reached his first final at the Australian Open, defeating Roddick in the semifinals. He injured a toe at Indian Wells and underwent surgery in March, then cracked a rib with a fall in his home in May. He shook off the injuries to return with a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon and the US Open. He lost both events to Roger Federer, a seven-match Slam losing streak to the Swiss star. He finished fourth overall, his fourth time in a five-year stretch in the Top 5.
He slid to 20th in 2006, winning his 25th career title at the Queen’s Club, and reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the US Open.
He finished 21st in 2007, his ninth straight year in the Top 25 and his 10th straight year winning at least one ATP title. It was his first year since 1999 not to reach at least the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. He missed nearly two months with a back injury.
In 2008, he missed the Top 25 for the first time since 1998, dropping to 67th. He did not win a tournament for the first time in 11 years. He did not play at all after the Olympics, playing most of the year with a hip injury and undergoing surgery on Aug. 16.
In 2009, Hewitt returned from the hip injury and finished No. 22, winning his 27th career title. He fell out of the Top 100 (to 108th) on Feb. 2, but returned on Feb. 23 after reaching the semifinals at Memphis. At Wimbledon, he made his first Grand Slam quarterfinal sine 2006 by knocking out Juan Martin del Potro (then ranked No. 5) in the second round, recovering from a two-set hole against Radek Stepanek in the fourth round and finally losing to Roddick in a five-set battle.
Hewitt began 2010 by reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open as the No. 22 seed, falling to Federer in straight sets. He finally snapped his 15-match losing streak to Federer in Halle in June. He went on to make the fourth round at Wimbledon, falling to No.3 Novak Djokovic in four sets.

Career Grand Slam Titles
Singles (2): Wimbledon (2002); US Open (2001).
Doubles (1): US Open (2000).

Year-End Singles Rankings: 1997 – 550th; 1998 – 100th; 1999 – 24th; 2000 – 7st; 2001 – 1st; 2002 – 1st; 2003 – 17th; 2004 – 3rd; 2005 – 4th; 2006 – 20th; 2007 – 21st; 2008 – 67th; 2009 – 22nd.

Personal
Played Australian Rules Football until age 13 when he decided to pursue a career in tennis. His father, Glynn, is a former Australian Rules Football player. Sister Jaslyn was the No. 1 junior in Australia in 2000. Is a global ambassador for Special Olympics, launching the program in Shanghai in 2002. Also in 2002, the Australia Post Office launched a commemorative Hewitt stamp, and added a limited edition post card in 2004. In 2003, he caddied for fellow Aussie Greg Norman at an Australian PGA event. His wife, Bec Cartwright, is an Australian actress






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