FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — Some numbers you just can’t ignore. For Lleyton Hewitt, 7-15 was among them. It was his record against Roger Federer coming into Saturday’s third-round matchup at the U.S. Open. A subpar
win-loss ratio that included a lopsided defeat to the Swiss No. 1 in the ’04 final, in which Hewitt was force-fed a pair of bagels in a straight-sets loss. You’d have to rewind an unlucky 13 head-to-heads to find the last time Hewitt got the best of Federer, to the ’03 Davis Cup semis, when the Aussie was a fixture in the top 10.
Prior to the match, Hewitt seemed to choke on that number when he said, “I’ve been on the receiving end of the losses for the last — yeah — lots of times.”
We’ve seen hip surgery put an end to many a career (Guga Kuerten and Magnus Norman among them) over the years, but a post-surgery Hewitt was playing his trademark first-class defense early on against Federer, oftentimes covering the court the way he used to circa 2001, when he won the first Slam of his career in Flushing Meadows. So impressed was John McEnroe up in the CBS booth that the Hall of Famer-turned-broadcaster envisioned a return to the top 10 for Hewitt.
Federer was clearly off his game in the opening stanza, uncharacteristically offering up 23 of his 59 unforced errors on the afternoon, and Hewitt took full advantage, converting two of eight break-point opportunities in claiming the set 6-4. But Federer managed to regain his composure and reeled off 11 straight points to start the second. Hewitt would have five more opportunities to break his opponent’s serve in the second and third sets, but Federer came up with big forehand winners when he needed them most.
“He’s so good at dictating play, playing on his terms,” said the 28-year-old Hewitt. “It’s very hard on his service games. You’re sort of trying to hang into his service games. You can’t really play the style of tennis that you want to play out there. That’s the hard thing. When he is able to play the way he wants to play and dictate terms, he’s going to be very tough to beat.”
At 4-4 in the third, Fededer lost his footing on a net approach and went down on the court. There was an awkward silence. No one could recall ever seeing Federer look so clumsy.
“It was like falling up a stair,” observed Mary Carillo.
Said McEnroe, “People forget he’s human sometimes.”
But Federer wasn’t down long, and when he got back on his feet, the only trace of the miscue was a slight grin of embarrassment. Other than that — as you might expect — he emerged unscathed, not a hair out of place. With the Aussie serving at 5-5, Fededer scored a break when a Hewitt backhand sailed long. He then served out the set (punctuated by a big, backpedaling overhead) to take what proved to be an insurmountable two-sets-to-one lead. Another break-point opportunity arose for Federer in the first game of the fourth set, and the Swiss was quick to convert. Hewitt registered a break of his own with Fededer serving for the match at 5-3 in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough. Federer closed out the 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win.
“Being down a set against a great player like Lleyton, you just go point by point,” said Federer, who now awaits the winner of the James Blake vs. Tommy Robredo match. “But I just had to believe that I could still turn this around. And with a great streak I have against him, I knew that if I get back into the match then I could get back on a roll, because I’ve had it so many times against him. But it was never a guarantee.”
“He’s as good as there is, there’s no doubt,” said Hewitt, who finished with 26 winners. “He’s got the most all-court game than I’ve ever played. Obviously, Agassi and Sampras were both greats, and I was able to play both of them when they were still at their best, winning Grand Slams, both of them. Roger has been able to take the game to a new level, and I think the most complete player for sure is Roger.”
Hewitt now has a new number to think about: 7-16.
