Lleyton Hewitt has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Honoured for a career that helped define Australian tennis for nearly two decades, the former world No.1 amassed 30 singles titles, two Grand Slams, a major in doubles and two Tour Finals. But for Hewitt, nothing ever eclipsed representing Australia.
“Wearing the green and gold and honouring the greats who came before me has always been one of the greatest honours of my life,” he said in his acceptance speech.
In a sport often labelled individual, Hewitt reflected on the mentors who taught him the meaning of team success.
“There are two people in particular who truly instilled in me what it means to play for Australia: John Newcombe and Tony Roche,” he said.
“The belief they put in me as a 15-year-old, taking me to Davis Cup ties, fast-tracking me, giving me the confidence that I was good enough to take on the world and climb the mountain to No.1 … words don’t describe what they’ve done for me.”
Now Davis Cup Captain, Hewitt expressed gratitude for those “believing in me with the next generation”.
“We’ve come awfully close to lifting the trophy the last few years, and I feel like we’ve punched above our weight,” he said.
“It doesn’t fall on me lightly. The great captains before me, the history, the responsibility. Being the 89th player to represent Australia really means something special to me. Our goal is to win the Davis Cup, and I just want to thank the support of Tennis Australia to instil in these guys what ‘Newk’ and ‘Rochey’ instilled in me.”
Hewitt’s impact on the sport can be measured in countless ways: the trademark “C’mon!” – a celebration he modelled after years watching Mats Wilander at the Australian Open, becoming the youngest world No.1 in history (before Carlos Alcaraz surpassed him in 2022), the fiery rivalries with Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Roger Federer, and his never-say-die attitude that saw two career-defining Grand Slam victories at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon.
He said his Wimbledon triumph remained the most nerve-racking moment of his career.
“Growing up as a kid, I never realistically thought I could win Wimbledon,” he said.
“On TV, you’d see all these serve-and-volleyers hitting big aces, that’s what it took to win that tournament. For me, I had to draw inspiration from a guy like Andre Agassi winning it from the baseline.
“I was so much more nervous going into that final than the US Open, probably because I was world No.1,” he said. “Playing a guy like David Nalbandian, we were the same age, grew up in juniors together, and I knew how good and talented he was.
“Against Sampras, I was the underdog and didn’t really understand the moment. But before the Wimbledon final … that was the toughest sleep of my life.”
Before the Grand Slam glory, Hewitt’s career got an early taste of the spotlight against a tennis great whose game foreshadowed his own.
When Yevgeny Kafelnikov withdrew from the Adelaide International, the 16-year-old South Australian local was handed a wildcard and made the most of it – storming into the semifinals, where he faced Andre Agassi in his ATP tournament debut.
“I went into the locker room 15 minutes before the match and Andre Agassi was still in there reading a novel. I thought, ‘He looks relaxed,’” Hewitt recalled.
Despite “just trying to be competitive”, he stunned the former world No.1, winning 7-6(5) 7-6(4), before going on to claim the title.
Years later, Agassi told him: “This is either really bad and I’m going downhill, or this kid’s gonna be decent.”
Twenty-seven years on, now a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the answer speaks for itself.