Sick of the sight of you
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ByEurosport
Published 12/09/2004 at 23:31 GMT
"I've lost to Roger in three out of the four majors," Lleyton Hewitt confirmed on Sunday, after the Swiss thrashed the 23-year-old at the U.S. Open, his first final since winning Wimbledon in 2002. The victory also included two love sets, something that h
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"When he's playing like he did, especially in the first set there today, there's very little you can do out there. He returned extremely well and it was hard to get any cheap points off him," the Australian told reporters after a 6-0 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 drubbing.
"You know, who knows? If I could have met him a little bit later in the Aussie and at Wimbledon, then who knows, but he's the stand-out [player] this year.
"He's playing incredible tennis, on all surfaces as well," Hewitt said.
"You know, he had an incredible run leading up to Wimbledon and then straight after through to Toronto [at the beginning of August]."
THE 'IMPOSSIBLE' SLAM
The former two-time world champion, also believes that Federer has a chance of becoming the third player in men's tennis - after Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) - to win the Grand Slam of four major championships.
"He's definitely got a chance, there's no doubt about it, especially the year that he's had as well, and he's always going to have a chance going into every major, even the French Open.
"You know, he lost in the third round [in Paris] this year to Guga [Gustavo Kuerten], but it's going to take a guy like Guga or someone like that to beat him at every slam.
A RETURN TO FORM
Despite losing his first major final, Hewitt confirmed that he was delighted by his standard of tennis over the last few months.
"It's obviously disappointing, you know," he said. "This is my first loss in a grand slam final and any final is hard to lose.
"But I'm happy with the way I'm playing. When I look back on the last five weeks especially, it's been great tennis for me the whole time. When you put yourself in a position to play in grand slam finals, that's what you play tennis for.
"So, you know, it's been a good two weeks."
Hewitt came into the tournament after back-to-back victories in Washington and on Long Island, and made it 16 consecutive wins as he reached the final without losing a set, the first man to do so at the U.S. Open since Jim Courier in 1991.
UNTOUCHABLE?
Such was Federer's dominance on Sunday that even Hewitt, renowned as the biggest battler in the game, was made to look helpless at times.
"I don't think anyone in the actual tournament [could have beaten Federer on Sunday]," Hewitt said. "I don't know, maybe Pete Sampras, obviously with his serve, but it's very hard to say.
"He's setting the standard."
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