Lleyton Hewitt

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Lleyton may well have followed in the footsteps of his Australian rules football-playing father. Instead, he became the youngest winner of an ATP tournament when, as an almost unknown younger, he won the 1998 Adelaide Invitational.

In the next two years he quickly progressed up the world rankings and has been the top-ranked player at the season's end for the past two years.

Lleyton's game is based primarily around his superior reaction time, fitness, and court speed - almost a male version of Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario[?] - and, at his best, even more difficult to get around. Such a game would be expected to favour the slow clay courts of the French Open, but Lleyton's first Grand Slam at the grass courts of Wimbledon demonstrate his all-court potential (with Pete Sampras and Pat Rafter retiring perhaps the last of the great serve-volley exponents have gone, perhaps making it even easier for Lleyton).

Lleyton has a decidedly mixed reputation with tennis fans. His fist-pumping and endless calls of "C'mon!" to himself annoy some fans. More seriously, he was accused of racism when at the 2000 (?) US Open, he reportedly implied that a black linesman was favouring a black opponent, (James Blake). He later apologised to both the linesman and the opponent (who reportedly are quite satisfied). In Australia, he is certainly not feted by the public in the same way that Pat Rafter was.

In a well-publicised relationship, he dates highly-ranked Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters[?].