Coach Darren Cahill said it was clear to him from Day 1 that Lleyton Hewitt was a special player and that he would achieve great things. On Saturday, Hewitt was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the United States.
In 2001, a 20-year-old Hewitt lifted his first Grand Slam title after beating Pete Sampras in the US Open final. The same year, Hewitt became the youngest-ever male player to reach the top spot. Hewitt and Cahill worked together between 1998 and 2001.
“Damn, this kid is good. He’s going to be something special. Lleyton’s DNA was different to most,” Cahill said during Hewitt’s inauguration into the Hall of Fame, per Sportskeeda. “He took an individual sport and turned his matches into a team sport environment, pulling on his Aussie Rules background to rally the people around him like teammates.
There was nothing solo about his performances and he wasn’t scared to get involved in a scrap.”
Cahill on Hewitt playing in the era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal
When a 21-year-old Hewitt lifted his second Grand Slam title at 2002 Wimbledon, the expectation was that the Australian would maybe finish with up to 10 Grand Slams.
Unfortunately, Hewitt was then struck by injury problems and the emergence of Federer and Nadal also didn’t help. Cahill thinks Hewitt definitely would have won more Grand Slams if not for injuries and the emergence of two all-time greats, Federer and Nadal.
“He got unlucky with several injuries in his mid 20s that halted adding to his resume and going head-to-head with two all-time greats in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in their prime made it challenging. Regardless, he will always be able to look back on his career and be proud with no regrets,” Cahill added.
20 years have passed since Hewitt’s Wimbledon victory and Australia hasn’t had a male Grand Slam winner since. “Lleyton left an important legacy in competing for Australia and setting a standard of training and competition that every generation should look up to,” Cahill noted.
