Creature Vs. Creature: Only Lleyton Hewitt's Best Will Do

He is from the old batch—the batch that had Roger Federer in it. But Federer has since graduated and moved far ahead of that pack.

He used to be the World No. 1, the U.S. Open Champion, and the Wimbledon Champion. And guess who it is now, who is now what he was then? No brownies for the correct guess!

The last time Lleyton Hewitt won against Federer was way back in 2003. And since then, except for a couple of sets here and there where he has managed to hang in with the Swiss sensation and take it to the tie-breakers, it cannot really be called a rivalry.

But Hewitt is always the guy who refuses to give up. He is the guy who creates that extra ounce of octane for himself. He is the guy who fights as if this point, this game, is what will decide whether he lives or dies.

And when a man stakes so much of himself in a match, you cannot discount him. When you consider that he was once the best in the world and has won Grand Slams, and therefore knows what it takes to be there, and do that, he becomes that much more dangerous to anyone, including the world No. 1.

This is a take on Hewitt's prospects going into his U.S. Open third-round match against Federer. To see Rajat Jain's take on Federer's side of the story, please click here.

Will Win If. . .

Federer has the best serve in the top 10 today, while Hewitt has one of the best returns of serve. He not only returns well, but also prevents lot of aces through using his retrieval skills. Yes, but all this has happened in the past, and the results haven't changed in the past 13 times. So let's look at the real Will Win Ifs:

He should take a leaf out of the Roddick book and the Nadal-Murray book. He can run as well as the latter and volley, if not quite as well, almost as well as the former. He is one of the players who, having good all-court skills, paled into the shadows behind the baseline.

Serves in at Federer's body and obviously toward his backhand side should be par for the course. Serving at Federer's body is what Roddick did at Wimbledon this year, and with great success. Of course, Hewitt doesn't have as much ammunition as Roddick has for a one-two combination like this, but this will help him gain control of the point.

Serving on the backhand, one gets to taste the Federer chip, which lands somewhere close to the service line and can make you a bit tentative over whether you should come in after he plays it or before it—it's the "no-man's land."

Also, it has so much rip on it that the ball might as well roll over the asphalt after hitting it. Perhaps Hewitt should try volleying on some of them.

So, the body serve with a killer forehand and the backhand serve with a volley on many occasions—sounds like a plan. Then how good is Federer's forehand return? Does he chip those, too?

Hewitt's favourite shot, the diverging forehand, the one that goes to Federer's backhand, is another key. It is definitely not possible to learn to put 5,000 rpm on a yellow ball overnight.

But then drive it deeper, and don't let it stay low. The blokes who play their backhand with only one hand, like it low and slightly in front. If he likes it, don't give it to him.

He should try to restrict the rallies to backhand-to-backhand exchanges or forehand-to-backhand exchanges (Federer's backhand that is). Go for that bit of an uncomfortable, down the line forehand when you could have tried for the easier crosscourt drive.

Build up the angle from the resulting midcourt ball or extract a backhand crosscourt from Roger, and then drive it deep when you are at it.

Hewitt has an awesome offensive top-spin lob, which he can fall back on if Roger resorts to volleys. Being a counter-puncher, he is not alien to passing shots as well.

Having said this, Hewitt has to be at his very best. The saying is easy, the execution is mountainous. But if there is even a hairline crack in Roger's game that he can exploit, given the way the matchup goes, Hewitt is a man who can take advantage.

Will Lose If. . .

He gets bogged down by Federer's counter-play to the counter-puncher.

Being small in stature, Hewitt normally needs pace to give back pace. Generating velocity is not so much his cup of tea, and Federer normally doesn't give him much to work with.

If he stays passive and tentative and waits, which is the typical attitude of a counter-puncher, he will only see Federer dictating the gameplay, running him around and killing the ball for a winner from the baseline or the net.

If he fails to take initiative and change the direction of the ball a bit here, or hits it a millisecond late to send it inside-out, Federer will simply outperform him.

Federer's service has reached Samprasian proportions in the past couple of years. If Hewitt's return doesn't scale similar heights, it is going to be difficult to even get a sniff at a break.

His body has not held up so well, especially over the past year. It could well happen that it troubles him again.

Short and simple—he will lose if he is not at his absolute best.

Intangibles

That said, one can expect Rusty to come out firing on all cylinders and still fall short. Federer is currently having the best time of his life, having gotten married and started a family, and the timing coincides with his breaking of the Grand Slam record. There are no mental demons for him to exorcise in this match.

Whatever the outcome is, it is likely that the New York crowd will be entertained with some high-octane, adrenaline-rushing tennis.

Shots to look out for

The beautiful Hewitt inside-out forehand and the offensive lob landing just at the baseline from Hewitt.

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"COME ON!"

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Thanks to Rajat for some important inputs, and to Rob for giving me this opportunity.