David Nalbandian managed to squeeze by Lleyton Hewitt in the opening round of the Australian Open in five very hard fought sets. Nalbandian is the better player these days, but Hewitt deserved to win this time having had a match point at 7-6 in the 5th set when Nalbandian for some reason decided to serve and volley for only about the 3rd time in nearly 5 hours. Hewitt hit the perfect return right at the shoelaces and somehow Nalbandian got down for it and finessed the most delicate backhand halfvolley dropshot that not even the still very quick australian could get to before it bounced twice. Hewitt also had 3-1 and 0-40 in the last set but played a little bit to defensive to secure the “doublebreak” which surely would have been enough the argentinians spirit which was extremely positive throughout the match. Hewitt still wants it as badly as ever allthough towards the end of a match like this nothing in the whole world can be of more importance than winning. To be a bit cruel, not your wife, not your kids, you should feel like your world is going to fall apart if you don’t win. Easier said than done and I think Lleyton Hewitt has moved on in life and just wants the “confirmation” that he’s still good enough to compete with the best players in the world. It’s sad for australian tennis but everything comes to an end, I hope I’m wrong but Hewitt might have played his last match at the Australian Open. I am Mats Wilander in Melbourne.
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