Hewitt aims to end glory year in style

The world's top tennis player carries the weight of Australian expectation in this weekend's Davis Cup final against France.

The Australian Davis Cup-winning team of 1999 included a fiery 18-year-old called Lleyton Hewitt who wore a baseball cap backwards and pumped his fist between points. Hewitt was just a sideshow in the triumph against France, losing to Cedric Pioline and Sebastien Grosjean in his two singles matches in the final in Nice.

Today the two nations meet again in the final, but with a very different Hewitt meeting Nicolas Escude on the opening day in Melbourne. Then he was a talented rookie whose temper threatened to get in the way of his tennis. Now he is the US Open champion and World No 1, the youngest player to end the year at the summit.

It has been a sensational few months for the 20-year-old from Adelaide, who lifted his first Grand Slam trophy at Flushing Meadows in September, going on to win the Masters Cup tournament in Sydney a fortnight ago, defeating his compatriot Patrick Rafter.

A passionate member of the Davis Cup team, Hewitt's most ardent desire is to round off the year by helping Australia to win on the newly-laid grass surface at the Rod Laver Arena – particularly since victory would satisfy a lifelong ambition for Rafter, who plans to take an indefinite break from tennis afterwards.

Hewitt still wears his shorts baggy and his cap back-to-front, but has matured beyond recognition since Nice. The career plan, as hatched with his long-time coach, Darren Cahill, was for him to be in a position to win Grand Slams by the age of 23 or 24. It has all happened much faster than anticipated.

"He's amazing," says Todd Woodbridge, who was in the 1999 team and will partner Wayne Arthurs in tomorrow's doubles match against Pioline and Fabrice Santoro. "It comes down to his self-belief and confidence when he's out on the court. The experience he has gained in those two years is going to be very, very crucial come the weekend." So will the mental toughness that, together with his speed and phenomenal return of serve, makes Hewitt such a formidable player. That iron nerve has been especially evident at Davis Cup ties over the past 12 months.

At last year's final in Barcelona, he defied a hostile Spanish crowd to win a gruelling five-setter against Albert Costa. In this year's quarter-finals, he beat Brazil virtually single-handed, winning two singles and one doubles match and defeating the world's best clay-courter, Gustavo Kuerten, in his home town of Florianopolis.

But it may be the 2001 US Open that will come to be regarded as the turning-point for Hewitt. It was there that he finally achieved his youthful promise, dispatching Pete Sampras in straight sets, and it was there that he became embroiled in the most damaging row of a career that has rarely been free of controversy. The ferocity of public reaction to his outburst against a black linesman whom he claimed was favouring his African-American opponent, James Blake, appears to have had a sobering effect. Since then, he has steered clear of the on-court histrionics that alienated many admirers of his tennis, and his game is none the worse for it.

John Newcombe, the former Davis Cup captain, believes that Hewitt has come of age as a person and a player. After he won the Masters Cup, his sixth title this year, Newcombe said he was becoming as tough to beat as Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander at their peak.

"His graph has been consistently upwards," he said. "At the end of each year he has surpassed the goals he sets for himself. Like Wilander and Borg, he is hard to penetrate, and it starts to wear on you as the match goes on." Newcombe believes Hewitt can improve his game by five per cent over the next 12 months, and predicts the South Australian could accumulate 10 more Grand Slam titles over the next decade.

Hewitt appears invincible at present, but he has not forgotten that his extraordinary year included a fourth-round defeat to Escude at Wimbledon. Also, Grosjean, whom he will meet in the reverse singles on Sunday, was the only player to take a set off him at the Masters Cup.

With Rafter plagued by a shoulder injury, although declared fit, Hewitt is pivotal to Australian hopes. The French coach, Thierry Tulasne, says his team will be looking to exploit his "weak areas". It will be interesting to see what they are.

DAVIS CUP Final (Melbourne): Today: L Hewitt (Aus) v N Escude (Fr); P Rafter (Aus) v S Grosjean (Fr). Tomorrow: W Arthurs and T Woodbridge (Aus) v C Pioline and F Santoro (Fr). Sunday: Hewitt v Grosjean; Rafter v Escude.