The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that Lleyton Hewitt will be mentoring Australian youngsters Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis as they all spend time in the warmup events leading to the US Open this summer.
In a way, Hewitt and Kyrgios is a match made in heaven. Kyrgios is supremely talented, overconfident, and overemotional on court. Kyrgios burst his way onto the tennis stage with a fourth-round upset over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014. He seems to peak in Grand Slams, and has since reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in Melbourne earlier this year.
Patriotic Hewitt to Mentor Young Aussies
The problem for Kyrgios has always been his attitude on court. He is prone to tantrums and, unlike John McEnroe or, more recently, Andy Roddick, getting angry doesn’t help him on court. We have seen this enough times to know. It just doesn’t. What getting angry does to Kyrgios is distract him and lead to him playing poorly.
Fortunately for Kyrgios, he has an older country-mate and occasional doubles partner who has gone through the exact same thing. Lleyton Hewitt, his immediate propulsion to the top of the tennis world as a teenager notwithstanding, was often prone to outbursts in his youth. We don’t have to re-hash any of them, but Hewitt was involved in a few major controversies of his own on court years ago, the most (in)famous perhaps being his spat with an umpire about a linesman while playing James Blake.
Hewitt has moved past all of that, though. He is now one of the greatest fighters on court. He may no longer have the physical capabilities to play at a top level for five or even three sets anymore. He may no longer possess the weapons that guarantee him a win over even lower-tier players. But he never gets into fights with anyone anymore and, most importantly, is now most immediately-recognizable as the player who most uses emotion to make him better on court.
That is what Lleyton Hewitt does. He finds something, anything, to pump himself up. He stays excited on court. His “C’MAAAWWWN” is perhaps the most recognizable cheer in men’s tennis. He points to his box, he points to himself, and his “lawnmower” fist-pump is what keeps him in matches against top-level competition. Of course, by the time he learned how to channel this a certain Roger Federer had taken over the tennis world and kept Hewitt’s career accomplishments below what they could have been, but that doesn’t change how Hewitt made himself a better fighter over his career.
Kyrgios is emotional on court. But his is a petulant emotion, not a channeled aggression. Hewitt is a perfect fit to teach him how to do that. The elder Aussie is young enough that Kyrgios can remember looking up to him as a child. And Hewitt is good enough and has earned enough career accolades to command respect from the brash Kyrgios.
This move is also classic Hewitt. Some questioned his allegiance to Australian tennis when he had a falling-out with Bernard Tomic a few years ago. It hurt their Davis Cup team and it hurt Australian tennis as a whole. That is not representative of what Australian tennis means to Hewitt, though. His lack of an Australian Open title has been eating at him. He chose to retire after next year’s Australian Open because that is the most important tournament in the world to him, even though Wimbledon has been his most successful.
Hewitt is in the twilight of his career. We all know it. But these last few months have brought Hewitt accomplishments on a national scale that many thought were far past him, including an incredible win in a Davis Cup 5th rubber to bring his country into the semifinals. And now, as he heads towards his final US Open and hardcourt summer, he is preparing the next generation of top Aussies to carry on his legacy. Kyrgios is the one who as the most immediate potential and needs Hewitt’s help the most, but Kokkinakis won’t be too far behind in accomplishments or in need of advice from a former champion.
As we approach this summer, it’s a bittersweet time for Australian tennis fans. Lleyton Hewitt, the standard-bearer for so long, is going to be retiring in six months. But there are young, rising, stars ready to step into his place. And with him helping them, Australian tennis just has that much more to look forward to.
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