190 Facts About Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Glynn Hewitt was born on 24 February 1981 and is an Australian former professional tennis player.

Lleyton Hewitt was ranked as the world No 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals for 80 weeks, including as the year-end No 1 in 2001 and 2002.

Lleyton Hewitt was the runner-up at the 2004 US Open and 2005 Australian Open.

Lleyton Hewitt remains the most recent Australian man to win a singles major.

Lleyton Hewitt's father, Glynn, is a former Australian rules football player, and his mother, Cherilyn, was a physical education teacher.

Lleyton Hewitt has a younger sister, Jaslyn, a former tennis coach and bodybuilder, and his brother-in-law is Rob Shehadie.

Lleyton Hewitt played Australian Football until the age of 13, when he decided to pursue a tennis career.

Lleyton Hewitt was coached by Peter Smith at Denman Tennis Club in Mitcham.

Lleyton Hewitt became one of the youngest winners of an Association of Tennis Professionals tournament when he won the 1998 Next Generation Adelaide International, defeating Jason Stoltenberg in the final, having defeated Andre Agassi in the semi-finals.

Lleyton Hewitt then left Immanuel College to concentrate on his tennis career.

Lleyton Hewitt was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

Lleyton Hewitt finished his professional tennis career on 24 January 2016 after 20 straight Australian Open appearances.

In 2022, Lleyton Hewitt was inducted into the 'International Tennis Hall of Fame.

In 2000, Lleyton Hewitt reached his first Grand Slam final at the Wimbledon mixed doubles partnering Belgian Kim Clijsters, his then girlfriend.

Lleyton Hewitt later won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open when he along with Max Mirnyi claimed the men's doubles championship, thus becoming the youngest male to win a Grand Slam doubles crown in the open era.

Lleyton Hewitt started off the 2001 season well by winning the title in Sydney.

Lleyton Hewitt went on to win back-to-back tournaments in Queen's and 's-Hertogenbosch.

Lleyton Hewitt captured his first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, comprehensively defeating former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the semi-finals, and four-time champion Pete Sampras the next day in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt went on to defeat Sebastien Grosjean in the final to take the title and cement his position as the world number one.

Lleyton Hewitt followed his 2001 US Open win by capturing the Wimbledon singles title.

Lleyton Hewitt defeated Jonas Bjorkman, Gregory Carraz, Julian Knowle, Mikhail Youzhny, Sjeng Schalken and dispatched home favourite Tim Henman - a rematch of their recent Queen's final - before dominating first-time finalist David Nalbandian in straight sets in the championship match; Hewitt lost only two sets throughout the championship.

Lleyton Hewitt's victory reinforced the idea that, although the tournament had tended to be dominated by serve-and-volleyers, a baseliner could still triumph on grass.

Lleyton Hewitt was the last man outside the so-called "Big Four" to win Wimbledon until Carlos Alcaraz in 2023.

Lleyton Hewitt's win helped him finish the year ranked No 1 for a second straight year, becoming the seventh man to achieve this feat.

In 2003, Lleyton Hewitt defeated former No 1 Gustavo Kuerten for the championship at Indian Wells.

Lleyton Hewitt became the first defending Wimbledon men's champion in the open era to lose in the first round.

Lleyton Hewitt was only the third defending Grand Slam champion in the open era to lose in the first round, after Boris Becker at the 1997 Australian Open and Patrick Rafter at the 1999 US Open.

At the US Open, Lleyton Hewitt lost in the quarterfinals to Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Lleyton Hewitt played only Davis Cup matches for the remainder of the year, recording five-set wins over Roger Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semi-finals and final respectively, as Australia went on to win the Davis Cup.

In 2004, Lleyton Hewitt became the first man in history to lose in each Grand Slam singles tournament to the eventual champion.

At the year ending 2004 Tennis Masters Cup, Lleyton Hewitt defeated Andy Roddick to advance to the final, but was yet again defeated by defending champion Federer.

In 2005, Lleyton Hewitt won his only title at the Sydney Medibank International defeating little-known Czech player Ivo Minar.

Lleyton Hewitt spent much time in the late stages of 2004 working with his former coach and good friend, Roger Rasheed, on bulking up his physique.

Lleyton Hewitt was the first Australian player to reach the final since Pat Cash in 1988.

At Wimbledon, Lleyton Hewitt reached the semi-finals, but lost to eventual champion Federer.

Two months later, Lleyton Hewitt again lost to Federer in the US Open semi-final, although this time he was able to take one set from the Swiss.

Lleyton Hewitt had at this point lost to the eventual champion at seven consecutive Grand Slam tournaments he played,.

Lleyton Hewitt pulled out of the Tennis Masters Cup tournament in Shanghai in November 2005 so that he could be with his wife Bec, who was due to give birth.

Lleyton Hewitt was defeated in the second round of the 2006 Australian Open by Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

Lleyton Hewitt then reached the finals of the San Jose and Las Vegas tournaments, losing to British youngster Andy Murray and American James Blake, respectively.

At the 2006 French Open, Lleyton Hewitt reached the fourth round, where he lost to defending champion and eventual winner Rafael Nadal in four sets.

Lleyton Hewitt won his first tournament of 2006, when he beat Blake in the final of the Queen's Club Championships.

Lleyton Hewitt then defeated Olivier Rochus and David Ferrer, before losing to Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals.

At the 2006 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC, Lleyton Hewitt was defeated by Arnaud Clement in the quarterfinals, after defeating Vincent Spadea in the second round and Denis Gremelmayr in the third round.

Lleyton Hewitt participated at the 2006 US Open, despite having an injured knee.

Lleyton Hewitt defeated Richard Gasquet in five sets to advance to the quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive year.

At the 2007 Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt lost in the third round to tenth-seeded Chilean and eventual runner-up Fernando Gonzalez.

Lleyton Hewitt reached the 2007 Hamburg Masters semi-finals, where he pushed eventual finalist Rafael Nadal to three sets.

At the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, Lleyton Hewitt won his first three matches, including a four-set third round victory over Guillermo Canas.

Lleyton Hewitt then faced fourth seed Novak Djokovic in the fourth round, which he lost.

At the Masters tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati Lleyton Hewitt reached the quarterfinals and semi-finals, respectively.

Lleyton Hewitt was seeded 16th at the 2007 US Open, but for the first time in eight consecutive appearances at Flushing Meadows, he did not reach the quarterfinals or further.

Lleyton Hewitt lost in the second round to Argentine Agustin Calleri.

Lleyton Hewitt lost his fourth-round match in straight sets to third-seeded and eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

However, Lleyton Hewitt made the third round at Roland Garros, before losing a five-set thriller to fifth seed David Ferrer.

Lleyton Hewitt then participated in the Medibank International Sydney, winning his first two matches, but losing in the quarterfinals to David Nalbandian.

Lleyton Hewitt then played in the 2009 Australian Open, where he was unseeded in a Grand Slam for the first time since 2000.

Lleyton Hewitt faced Fernando Gonzalez in the first round and lost in five sets.

Lleyton Hewitt then defeated fellow Australian Chris Guccione in the second round and Christophe Rochus in the quarterfinals.

Lleyton Hewitt faced Andy Roddick in the semi-finals, but lost in a close match.

Lleyton Hewitt then lost in the first round of Delray Beach to Yen-Hsun Lu.

In Miami, Lleyton Hewitt beat Dudi Sela before losing to seventh seed Gilles Simon in straight sets.

At the 2009 US Men's Clay Court Championships, Lleyton Hewitt defeated seventh seed Diego Junqueira, Sergio Roitman in just 57 minutes, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Evgeny Korolev and Wayne Odesnik in the final, for his first title since 2007 and his first clay-court title in a decade.

Lleyton Hewitt entered the Monte Carlo Masters as a wild card.

Lleyton Hewitt lost in the first round to Marat Safin.

At the 2009 BMW Open, Lleyton Hewitt recorded his 500th career win after defeating Philipp Petzschner in the first round, becoming one of only four active players to achieve this milestone; the others being Roger Federer and Carlos Moya.

Lleyton Hewitt lost to No 1 Rafael Nadal in the third round.

Lleyton Hewitt used his strong service game to advantage, losing only one service game the entire match.

Lleyton Hewitt reversed a two-set deficit to defeat Radek Stepanek in the fourth round.

Lleyton Hewitt's Cinderella run ended in the quarterfinals against sixth seed Andy Roddick.

At the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, Lleyton Hewitt made it to the third round, before losing in a three-set battle with Juan Martin del Potro.

At the Montreal Masters, Lleyton Hewitt lost in the first round to former No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Cincinnati saw Lleyton Hewitt reach the quarterfinals for the sixth time, where he lost to Roger Federer in straight sets.

At the US Open, Lleyton Hewitt progressed to the third round, where he played Federer for the 23rd time of their decade-long rivalry.

Lleyton Hewitt lost in the first round to Swedish player Joachim Johansson.

Lleyton Hewitt then competed in the 2009 Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, where he won in the first round, defeating John Isner, before losing to Gael Monfils.

Lleyton Hewitt began his 2010 season partnering Samantha Stosur at the Hopman Cup.

Lleyton Hewitt was seeded fourth in the Medibank International and, like the previous year, reached the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Marcos Baghdatis.

Lleyton Hewitt returned to the tour at the US Men's Clay Court Championships as the singles defending champion.

Lleyton Hewitt won his first match since the Australian Open, partnering coach Nathan Healey in the doubles, defeating James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin, but lost to top seeds the Bryan brothers in the semi-finals.

Lleyton Hewitt then reached the second round in Barcelona, before losing to Eduardo Schwank, and lost in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Guillermo Garcia Lopez.

Lleyton Hewitt then travelled back to Australia to participate in a Davis Cup tie against Japan, winning his two singles matches.

At the French Open, Lleyton Hewitt reached the third round, before losing to Rafael Nadal, who went on to win the title without dropping a set and take the No 1 ranking.

At Wimbledon, Lleyton Hewitt was seeded 15th and lost to third seed, Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.

At the Atlanta Tennis Championship, Lleyton Hewitt lost in the first round to Lukas Lacko.

At the Legg Mason Classic, Lleyton Hewitt retired in the second round due to a leg injury.

Lleyton Hewitt pulled out of the Rogers Cup in Toronto to recover, and returned in Cincinnati.

Lleyton Hewitt defeated Yen-Hsun Lu in the opening round, before losing in three sets to fifth seed Robin Soderling.

Lleyton Hewitt was 32nd seed at the US Open and lost his first-round match to Paul-Henri Mathieu in five sets.

Lleyton Hewitt withdrew from the Malaysian Open due to a wrist injury suffered during the Australian Davis Cup playoff loss to Belgium.

Lleyton Hewitt began his 15th season on the ATP Tour at the Hopman Cup in Perth.

Lleyton Hewitt defeated his Belgian opponent Ruben Bemelmans and went on to win the tie for Australia with a three-set victory in the mixed doubles, partnering Alicia Molik.

Lleyton Hewitt next played No 3 Novak Djokovic, but lost in straight sets.

At the AAMI Kooyong Classic, Lleyton Hewitt beat Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko.

At the 2011 Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt was defeated in the first round in five sets by Argentina's David Nalbandian.

Furthermore, Lleyton Hewitt had two match point opportunities in the final set to close out victory.

The next tournament that Lleyton Hewitt took part in was the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, where Lleyton Hewitt beat Lu Yen-hsun and Adrian Mannarino.

Lleyton Hewitt made his comeback at the 2011 Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, where he returned as defending champion.

Lleyton Hewitt was scheduled to face top seed Roger Federer in the opening round.

Lleyton Hewitt came into Wimbledon with doubts over his fitness and condition and was unseeded in the 2011 Wimbledon Championships draw.

Lleyton Hewitt faced Kei Nishikori of Japan in the first round and won in four close sets.

At the 2011 Atlanta Tennis Championships, Lleyton Hewitt beat Phillip Simmonds in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt lost his second round encounter against the American qualifier Rajeev Ram.

Lleyton Hewitt then was offered a wild card to play at the 2011 US Open, but was unable to play due to foot injury which ended his season.

In singles, where he was awarded a wildcard, Lleyton Hewitt won his first round match defeating unseeded Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in almost four hours.

Lleyton Hewitt returned with a wildcard at the French Open where he lost in the first round to Blaz Kavcic.

Lleyton Hewitt lost in the 1st round to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Lleyton Hewitt defeated Vasek Pospisil, Tim Smyczek, Dudi Sela and Rajeev Ram.

Lleyton Hewitt lost to top seeded John Isner in the final.

Lleyton Hewitt started off 2013 in Brisbane, where he lost in second round against Denis Istomin in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt then played in the Davis Cup against Taiwan and won in both singles and doubles.

Lleyton Hewitt claimed a wild card to play in doubles with fellow Aussie Marinko Matosevic, beating the No 1 American duo Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan in the quarterfinals, before losing to Xavier Malisse and Frank Moser in the final.

Lleyton Hewitt next participated in the US National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis.

Lleyton Hewitt faced Yen-Hsun Lu in the opening round, saving two match points to edge Lu in three sets.

Lleyton Hewitt lost to Denis Istomin, again in the second round.

Lleyton Hewitt lost to Gilles Simon in the opening round at Roland Garros.

At Wimbledon, Lleyton Hewitt beat top ten player Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt was then defeated by German qualifier Dustin Brown in the second round in four sets.

Lleyton Hewitt's form continued at the Atlanta Open, defeating Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Rhyne Williams and Ivan Dodig before losing to John Isner in the semi-finals in three tough sets.

Lleyton Hewitt beat Evgeny Donskoy in the third round to set up a fourth round match with Mikhail Youzhny.

Lleyton Hewitt kicked off the 2014 season as an unseeded entrant into the 2014 Brisbane International.

Lleyton Hewitt beat Thanasi Kokkinakis, Feliciano Lopez and Marius Copil.

In doubles action, Lleyton Hewitt partnered with retired and former Australian number one Patrick Rafter.

Lleyton Hewitt battled for his 600th ATP win, becoming only the third active player to reach that milestone by beating Robin Haase in the 1st round of the 2014 Sony Open Tennis.

Lleyton Hewitt lost his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt then competed in the 2014 US National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis beating Marcos Baghdatis in three sets before losing to Michael Russell in two sets.

Lleyton Hewitt played at the BNP Paribas Open where he defeated Matthew Ebden and lost to Kevin Anderson.

Lleyton Hewitt then played at the Sony Open Tennis where he defeated Robin Haase but lost to No 1 Rafael Nadal.

Lleyton Hewitt then played at the US Men's Clay Court Championships where he lost in Round of 16 to Sam Querrey.

Lleyton Hewitt suffered three consecutive first round losses at the BMW Open by FWU AG to Albert Ramos Vinolas, Mutua Madrid Open to Santiago Giraldo and at the French Open Roland Garros to Carlos Berlocq in four sets.

At the Aegon Championships, Lleyton Hewitt won in the first round against Daniel Gimeno Traver in straight sets before losing to Feliciano Lopez in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt went on to win the doubles title with countryman Chris Guccione later that same day.

Lleyton Hewitt defeated Austria's Jurgen Melzer in three sets at the Cincinnati Masters to reach 610 wins on the ATP Tour.

Lleyton Hewitt began his 2015 season as the defending champion of the Brisbane International.

Lleyton Hewitt played the first Fast4 short-form tennis exhibition match against Roger Federer but lost in five sets.

Lleyton Hewitt then played his 19th consecutive Australian Open appearance which is the fourth longest streak at any Grand Slam.

Lleyton Hewitt then lost in five sets to his second round opponent Benjamin Becker despite winning the first two sets.

At a media conference, Lleyton Hewitt mentioned plans to retire after the 2016 Australian Open to become the captain of the Australian Davis Cup team after Pat Rafter moved on from the position, becoming the seventh man to captain the team.

Lleyton Hewitt then played the Miami Open and lost in the first round to Thomaz Bellucci in three sets.

Lleyton Hewitt was then awarded a wildcard to the 2015 US Men's Clay Court Championships where he lost in the first round to Go Soeda.

Lleyton Hewitt skipped the remainder of the clay court season including the 2015 French Open, instead opting to focus on the grass season and Wimbledon.

Lleyton Hewitt began his grass court season at the 2015 Topshelf Open where he lost to Nicolas Mahut in the first round.

Lleyton Hewitt was awarded a wildcard into the men's doubles where he partnered compatriot Matt Reid.

Lleyton Hewitt played in the mixed doubles with compatriot Casey Dellacqua on a wild card and lost in the second round, seemingly ending his Wimbledon career.

Lleyton Hewitt lost in the second round of the US Open to Tomic in five sets despite having two match points.

Lleyton Hewitt, partnered with Sam Groth, lost a tough Davis Cup semi-final doubles tie against the British Murray brothers in 5 sets.

Lleyton Hewitt was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the awards announced on Australia Day.

Lleyton Hewitt played doubles with John Peers against the Bryan brothers.

Lleyton Hewitt was the subject of a book titled "Facing Lleyton Hewitt" which features fifty interviews with professional tennis players who competed against him.

In December 2017, it was announced that Lleyton Hewitt would come out of retirement and accept a doubles wildcard with compatriot Sam Groth at the 2018 Australian Open.

Lleyton Hewitt then played in the fast4 exhibition in Sydney where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov.

Hewitt's doubles comeback continued with Lleyton playing doubles at the 2018 Estoril Open with Alex de Minaur where they defeated second seeds Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen before losing in the quarterfinals.

In 2019, Lleyton Hewitt played doubles at a number of tournaments.

Lleyton Hewitt featured in the Australian summer of tennis, this time choosing to participate in the new Adelaide International, the first time he had played tour-tennis in his home town for over a decade.

Lleyton Hewitt partnered Jordan Thompson but lost in the first round to Cristian Garin and Juan Ignacio Londero.

Lleyton Hewitt made his Davis Cup debut for Australia in the 1999 Davis Cup quarterfinals at age 18 against the United States in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Lleyton Hewitt caused a major upset over Martin and would go on to win his second singles rubber against Alex O'Brien as well.

Lleyton Hewitt continued showed his commitment to the team by competing in the regional ties but the team fell in the playoff stages every year between 2008 and 2011.

In 2012, Lleyton Hewitt won his single and doubles match against China in February, which allowed Australia to return to the playoffs where they lost to Germany.

Lleyton Hewitt played the Davis Cup match against Great Britain in the semi-finals of the 2015 Davis Cup.

Lleyton Hewitt played doubles with Sam Groth losing in five sets to brothers Andy and Jamie Murray.

Lleyton Hewitt came out of retirement to play the first round match against the United States at the 2016 Davis Cup as a player-captain, where he and partner John Peers lost to the Bryan brothers in a five-setter.

Lleyton Hewitt competed in the 2018 Davis Cup World Group play-offs, again as a player-captain in doubles with Peers.

Lleyton Hewitt is the sole holder of several Australian Davis Cup records, which include most wins, most singles wins, most ties played and most years played.

Lleyton Hewitt made his World Team Cup debut for Australia in 2000 at the age of 19.

Lleyton Hewitt recorded two singles victories over Albert Costa and Marcelo Rios but fell to Yevgeny Kafelnikov in his last group stage match.

Lleyton Hewitt returned to the World Team Cup in 2001 and led Australia to the title by recording singles wins over Alex Corretja, Magnus Norman, Tommy Haas in the group stages.

Lleyton Hewitt made his third appearance at the tournament in 2003 where he entered as the No 1 singles player and went undefeated in his singles matches by recording wins over Jiri Novak, James Blake and Carlos Moya but it was not enough to send Australia through to the final.

Lleyton Hewitt elected not to compete in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, deciding instead to focus on the 2004 US Open which would result in a runner-up showing.

Lleyton Hewitt competed in his third Olympics in London 2012 where he entered the men's singles event and defeated Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round.

Lleyton Hewitt was the only Australian in any tennis event to progress past the first round.

Lleyton Hewitt sent an application to the International Olympic Committee to enter the men's doubles competition with Chris Guccione but the application was rejected.

Early in their careers, Lleyton Hewitt dominated Federer, winning seven of their first nine meetings, including a victory from two sets down in the 2003 Davis Cup semi-final, which allowed Australia to defeat Switzerland.

Early on, Lleyton Hewitt dominated the rivalry, with six wins from their first seven meetings.

One of those wins included a five-set victory at the 2001 US Open, the tournament in which Lleyton Hewitt captured his first Singles Grand Slam title.

At the 2004 Cincinnati Masters Final, commentator MaliVai Washington said that Lleyton Hewitt was even more difficult to "ace" than Agassi because he gets more returns in play.

Lleyton Hewitt's signature shot is the offensive topspin lob, a shot that he executes efficiently off both wings when his opponent approaches the net.

In July 2000, Lleyton Hewitt signed a multiyear endorsement deal with Nike.

Lleyton Hewitt is currently sponsored by American athletic apparel company Athletic DNA and the Japanese sports manufacturer Yonex, with whom he signed a "Head to Toe" deal in late 2005.

Lleyton Hewitt has used Yonex racquets as early as 2000, having used the Yonex Super RD Tour 95.

Lleyton Hewitt used to use the Yonex RDS tour 90 Model, but switched to the Yonex RDiS 100 mid in 2009.

Lleyton Hewitt is a keen supporter of Australian rules football, having played the game earlier in his career, and is currently the joint No 1 ticket holder for the Adelaide Crows, alongside MP Kate Ellis.

Lleyton Hewitt had once had a close friendship with Crows star Andrew McLeod, but this broke down amid much public controversy in 2005.

On 30 January 2005, shortly after losing the 2005 Australian Open final to Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt proposed to Australian actress Bec Cartwright after they had been dating for six weeks.

In late 2008, to extend his tennis career and reduce the amount of tax he would otherwise have had to pay, Lleyton Hewitt relocated his family for the European and North American season to their home in the Old Fort Bay estate, in Nassau, Bahamas.

Lleyton Hewitt has a nickname, "Rusty", which was given to him by Darren Cahill who at the time thought Lleyton Hewitt resembled the character Rusty, from the National Lampoon film series.

Lleyton Hewitt has been given the nickname 'Rocky' by fans, which originated from his shouts of "C'mon Balboa", in reference to the character Rocky Balboa from the Sylvester Stallone film Rocky.

In December 2021, Lleyton Hewitt sold their family home in Toorak, and purchased a new house in Burleigh Heads where he and his family now live.

Lleyton Hewitt was involved in a racism dispute while playing James Blake at the 2001 US Open.

At the 2001 French Open Lleyton Hewitt twice called the chair umpire and net judge "spastics" and was forced to apologise following a public backlash.