Lleyton Hewitt: Dreaming Big In His Back Yard

In his “back yard”, Lleyton Hewitt’s countrymen were dreaming big, caught on the wave of his meteoric rise. With the 2001 season finale held at the Super Dome in Sydney, the 20-year-old would have the opportunity to become the youngest World No.1 in history, and to do so in front of thousands of Australians. No wonder he would draw the biggest tennis crowd in the city since the 1950s.

“Throughout that whole year I hadn't focused on getting to World No. 1 at all,” Hewitt said. “It hadn't crossed my mind. Then the US Open came along and I played fantastically [blitzing Pete Sampras in the final] to put myself in a position to finish the year off really strongly as well.”

At the start of the week in Sydney, Guga Kuerten, who in 2000 had been both the year-end No. 1 and the champion at the season finale in Lisbon, had a slim lead. But Hewitt and Andre Agassi were positioned to potentially clinch the top spot. “My goal at the start of the year had been to qualify for the Top 8, just to be there, and Pat Rafter and I spoke about that a lot. Being able to play in our back yard was a massive achievement for both of us. There were three of us in the end who could have finished No. 1 at the start of the tournament. Guga was leading, I was No. 2 and Agassi No. 3.”

The way the results fell in the group stages, Hewitt ended up playing his “good mate” Rafter in his final round-robin match, knowing that victory would give him the No. 1 position. “I was already guaranteed to go through to the semi-finals anyway. It was a strange match. Pat and I had to play a Davis Cup final the following week together. I'd looked up to him and he was like a big brother to me for so many years. Looking back on it now, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way: sharing that experience and that moment with Pat, a former No. 1, and in Sydney as well.”

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In front of 16,000 Australians, the largest Sydney tennis crowd since the 1954 Davis Cup final, Hewitt completed his 7-5, 6-2 victory over Rafter with a forehand winner. From that moment on, the pressure lifted from Hewitt’s shoulders. Yet after the euphoria of becoming the sport’s youngest World No. 1 - bettering the previous record of Jimmy Connors, aged 22, in 1974 - came the realisation that Hewitt, now struggling physically, needed to finish the job.

“I had a small strain in my hamstring that I dealt with in the semi-final [against Juan Carlos Ferrero] and final [against Sebastien Grosjean], which made me go out there and play a little bit more aggressively,” said Hewitt, who would beat the Frenchman 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. “It really was a massive dream,” said Hewitt. “Playing in Sydney, and not only claiming year-end No. 1, but doing so in your home country and going on to win the title. It was very satisfying, to know that all the hard work and sacrifices had paid off.”

The following year, Hewitt would win the season finale again, in Shanghai. But his run in Sydney will always be the one he remembers most fondly.

This year, on the 10th edition of the Nitto ATP Finals at The O2, the season finale celebrates players who competed at the event in the 2000s.