Game, Set and match for Lleyton Hewitt? | Thebigtip

Lleyton Hewitt‘s early exit from the US Open was a surprise. Losing in his first round clash against big hitting Paul-Henri Mathieu, Hewitt was given his marching orders earlier than expected. The exit was Hewitt’s earliest at the US Open, and as the 2001 champion, it was a big fall from grace for the star Australian.

For Lleyton, it was only the fourth time he had been defeated in the opening-round of a grand slam tournament since the start of 2001 and second first round exit in a grand slam in the past two years.

After the loss he looked a broken man, yet in his press conference he knew where he had gone wrong. With still so much improvement in his game, it has been injuries that have been an interruption all season. At 29 years of age, one still begs the question if Lleyton is up to the levels necessary for the ATP Tour? His results are still relatively strong when looking at grand slam performance, but maybe it is time to go now while he is still on top before he starts hitting a form slump of a Hewitt we aren’t too familiar with.

This year he has done well to reach the fourth round of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and third round of the French. Overall, he has been limited with the number of tournament’s he’s actually been able to play. Going into the US Open, he had played just three-and-a half matches on hard court since the Australian Open and was no where near ready to hit the DecoTurf surface. A calf injury has been a major hurdle Hewitt has had to overcome, and while he stayed off the court, his ranking continued to decline.

Now with two children in Mia and Cruz, and a third child expected in December, Lleyton is a busy man off and on court. For Australian tennis, he has been fantastic promoting the game.

While he has had some fiery moments, Australian’s love him for his aggression, fighting spirit, do or die attitude and pride he has for his country, wearing the green and gold on his sleeve. He was been a consistent performer for Australia in the Davis Cup, and was part of the winning 1999 and 2003 teams.

Hard Courts have been his surface of choice having won 19 of his 28 titles, with seven further titles on the grass. His grand slam victories are similarly reflected, with a win at the US Open and Wimbledon tournaments.

After his early exit last week, Hewitt stated “I wasn’t expecting a lot coming in here realistically”, and it was a fair assessment due to the bad run with injuries he was having before running into his US Open preparations.

Beating Roger Federer in a lead up event at Halle was a step forward and Federer was complimentaryof th Australian's form at the time “there is no reason to retire as you can still match it with the best”.

The Australian Open is still on Hewitt's mind, and while he has gone so close to winning it, with the talent in the system right now, maybe it is too late for Lleyton?

He has the game to be a top 20 player and even hit the top 10 again many might say. Financially he is in a great position and has a great family, not only on his own but his parents and has set in well with the balance between tennis and his own worries.

But maybe the time is now to go?

The hourglass is slowly running out and decisions need to be made. He’ll always have great history behind his name, but will time affect overall what everyone remembers of the Hewitt name. I’d love him to keep playing, but many remain undecided, while others want him to leave the game now.

When the racquet is restrung for the last time, we will miss him, for the backwards cap on his head will be a long lasting memory and the words “C’mon” when he’s winning the big points. His name will be engraved down in tennis history and future stars will no doubt be copying the former No.1’s style around the court for many years to come.

What should Lleyton do? We’ll, that’s a question to ask him.