Lleyton was the transition between the 90´s and the modern game. The determination to win, court coverage and counter attacking tennis was new in the game, back in the day. Lacking the consistence trough the whole season, but winning enough points to finish N1 two years in a row, he was a legend. His hip, besides Federer´s new era, marked the end of his peak-game. He brought to the game the "c´mon!!" with the swedish gesture "the vight". His trademark. Nor Federer, Djokovic, Alcaraz or whoever could yell c´mon like Lleyton used to. You could love him or hate him, but never went unnoticed. He didnt have to "create" a personality to be marketeable like many top players, he was like that since forever.

That last point is my favourite point ever. That shot of Federer smiling as he was running down the last ball... at that moment it was more than just a competition. Both players loved the game and had captured the spirit of it. Beautiful to watch.

Hewitt had a 10-9 head to head against Agassi/Sampras combined. He was beating them as a teenager and they weren't even that old. They were still in their 20s for the most part. I know a lot of fans on the internet only started watching tennis after the big 3 came along but this guy was a warrior and a rare talent and deserves respect. I think Aussies for the most part would know but others may not realise how many injuries and surgeries this guy had on his foot and hip during his mid-20s. At one stage he consulted 7 surgeons about an issue with his toe, had to put screws and a plate in it and even burned the nerve endings to stop the pain. None of that worked so he had to get the toe fused together and was told he would never play tennis again. He did and got to finish his career on his own terms, even beating Federer in his last match against him. Just because he doesn't have 20 Grand Slams doesn't mean wasn't a great champion, there were amazing players before the big 3 and there will be afterwards too.

He was the original "fast Aussie" even before De Minaur was born...😌😏

What an athlete! And very clever and highly skilled. Most of all, he played with the heart of a lion. I am happy to have finally seen a glimpse of Leyton’s career. Count me as a fan!

Hewitt pioneered the game modern game by sliding consistently on hard courts. The kind of sliding we see today has its origins in Hewitt's early days.

That last point was absolutely insane

His backhand was his weapon. It did all the heavy lifting. He did everything possible with that backhand. Lob, chip, drive, drop shot, volley. Took the ball early or late. Spin or flat. You name it.

I remember someone saying that one of the reasons so many players found him so difficult was because of the three quarters type of pace he often hit at. It wasn't hard enough to rebound the pace back at him, and not soft enough to take advantage of, and it wrecked a lot of players' timing because they were so used to heavier pace coming at them. It took the players a while to figure him out - notably Roger Federer, who lost 7 of his first 9 matches against Hewitt.

One of the most impactful players ever. He was the first player who had both the returning and the court coverage to counter serve & volley. Sampras saw the writing on the wall at the 2001 USO.

Imagine Lleyton Hewitt's dedication and never say die attitude in Nick Kyrgios!! Now, THAT would be a formidable player!!

Perfect way to close out this compilation 👏🏻👏🏻

That last point v Federer is possibly the best point I've ever seen after 30+ years of watching tennis.

Lleyton perfected the art of 'the winner only needs to make 1 more ball ball than their opponent'

That last point was one of the best ever..

I've been on a prime Hewitt binge recently, so this is perfect.

13:23 i dont think i ever see that federer smiling camera of the point before! good stuff

He doesn’t get enough credit for how clean a hitter he was. He was fast, obviously, but there were other guys of comparable speed. They couldn’t effortlessly redirect pace or consistently thread passing shots on the full run, though.

Tackling complex subjects with such finesse; it's an intellectual delight.😚

one of my favorite players. He was relentless in getting every ball back as a counter-pusher. Also his serve form is picturesque. Look it up.

Youngest prime ever. Peaked with 21(when many players are still on the rise) and then faded away. Capitalized best in the phase between prime Pete and prime big 3 eras.

Right before Federer's era began, Hewitt came around and surely made his mark👍It's suck that injuries ruined his career, but still, you can't deny the fact that he is an amazing player: he managed to win 2 Slams, 2 ATP Finals, 1 Master and remained the Youngest World No.1 for 20 years (up until Alcaraz broke this record in 2022)⭐

Lleyton Hewitt was always one of my favorites. I love his big time celebration - and when the Australian commentators go: "Ah yeahhh! And Lleyton's got the lawn-mowa going!"

Hewitt and Murray the only 2 guys who could consistently hit lob winners...🤔

My all time favorite player and the original "come on"!

He was quick in court

That last rally was amazing :)

Lleyton Hewitt is an absolute champion of the game and more than deserves his place in the Hall of Fame. His speed on court matched the sharpness of his mind, knowing when to hold back and when to go on the attack. As demonstrated in this video, Hewitt possessed an unbelievable ability to propel himself to every ball, which meant players had to work hard to get him off balance. Unfortunately, like a lot of injury-prone players, Hewitt was robbed of what should have been his peak, but even then, I think his accomplishments at the turn of the century, being the youngest number 1 of all time (until Alcaraz), his mental fortitude and longevity despite a torrid run of injuries, I would say he's somewhere in the 20 to 30 bracket on the all-time list. He'd be ahead of many of his contemporaries at the time, including Kuerten, Roddick and Safin (arguably, given he also experienced a bad run of injuries that, like Hewitt, prevented him from achieving any more than he did).

Where are the Rio quarterfinal highlights?

😅 didn’t even know this guy was Aussie for ages . Grew up watching him . Only realised he was Aus when he versed prime Federer

One of the biggest cheat codes hewitt used was standing up on or inside the baseline cutting out the time the bug hitters had to react and swing through. Keeping them off balance with shorter backswing. Basically the De minaur game you see today.

He's in the top 10 greatest male tennis players of all time.

A career overshadowed by federer

I remember!! as a fan it was hard to watch towards the end. kept yelling at the TV for the last 5 years of his career. was enjoyable tho! (my main crit was he kept going 'back behind' just too much until the advantage was no longer there, then finally he'd go cross court the other way, all the players were on to him )

He had a never say die attitude. If he were down 6-0, 5-0, 40-0, he'd still be chasing down every ball like his life depended on it.

O último ponto com o Federer rindo antes dele terminar é uma pérola do tênis ❤

He was good but he peaked at the end of he Sampras era and before Federer got going on his run from 2003. As Sampras wrote in his book, Hewitt saw his window of opportunity and he took full advantage of it from 2000-20005. Great player but after his 2005 Aus Open loss to Safin, th game had passed him by as it does everyone. But, a fabulous career and a helluva gusty player. Fed admitted they all hated to see Hewitt show up in he draw because he was so dogged and mentally tough

Hewitt had it all deep, reliable ground strokes from the back of the court, superb volleys, an incredible lob, inside out forehand, cross court forehand and a warrior's spirit that never gave in. Everything that is except a down the line backhand. Once people realised that he lacked that shot (i.e. every backhand was going to go crosscourt) was predictable and became beatable.

FIGHTER 💪

The period between the Sampras era and Federa then Nadal then Djoker was the Hewitt era. Most people don’t seem to remember that. He certainly had some talent to be #1 for so long in that period but his tenacity and ability to win from 0-2 down was his most impressive attribute. This highlight reel is filled with long points where he scrambled for everything until he finally wore the other player down. It might be said that the competition was in a bit of a glut after Sampras retired and before Fed hit his straps but credit should be given to little Lleyton, he was an impressive player.

Roger's probably still breathing heavy from that final rally. Prime Hewitt was the man

Hewitt showed to the world that you don't need to be serv-volleyer to be successful in grass and in faster hardcourts. That even full baseliner can win on those courts.

I like Hewitt but this is an era of tennis I do NOT miss.

Fed has his #

Prime Hewitt was a beast! The original Mighty Mouse who made the most out of his incredible talent. That last point vs. Federer was trademark Lleyton.

few friends n I used to call him the Austrian wild rabbit.

Hewitt will always be one of the greatest Australian 🎾 tennis players. Come On!!!

Anybody that could make Roger grunt, even once, let alone sweat (!) was bone fide. Hewitt’s point construction was something else when he was at the top of his game.

been watching tennis since the 90s. i always say to younger fans that a prime lleyton hewitt will give djokovic and nadal a run for their money.

Los momentos de Rio??

his backhand changed later years.

why does the game look so slow back then? Is it the camera quality that gives that effect? Because they're striking looks really soft. Still incredible player, especially movement wise. I was just curious if the game changed that much since then or it's just a camera thing

Last point still the greatest of all time

incredible how much racquet and string technology improved over the years almost looks like a different sport 20 years ago

he was a light weight champion who had his moments but once heavy weights like roger rafa novak showed up, he faded quick. But lots of respect for maximizing the early 2000s (post pete sampras prime era and old agassi)

He played in the real best era of tennis just before prime fed

Come onnnnnnnnnn

How good was he? Well he was very good, very mentally tough. But not powerful enough, didn't have enough weapons week after week, to win more than 2 slams. But in terms of doggedness and fight, he was supreme in those areas.

Its his birthday today

Rio QF highlights?????????

Pretty good...

I don t know what happened to him after 2005, 2006 was the beginning of his funeral. Since then he was not the same anymore.

Gastón Gaudio once said: “I don’t know how Hewitt reached number 1. His game was extremely slow, his ball didn’t have power. He returned everything, yes, but his game didn’t damage me at all”

He would have been top 30 today.

Alcaraz vibes?

Hewitt found that small gap between the previous greats and then the rise of Federer. Once Fed got in the scene he would usually beat Hewitt at least 1 set 6-0 just to work on his bagels.

In the era of Sampras/Agassi, you just really disliked this guy. That's how you know he was a world-class player.

I want to play like Roger glide through the court.

Hewitt Just good enough to win 1 slam, Safin was unique.

He was the Novak before Novak

He was a better Radwanska version. A product of weak era, he fitted nicely between prime Sampras/Agassi and prime Federer.

Lleyton is the one who has benefited the most from the transition between Sampras-Agassi of the 90's and the modern period of the big four (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray). Modern tennis is characterized by an evolution of the material with the generalization of the "poly" strings and the slowing down of surfaces giving a big advantage to baseliners. Therefore big servers like Sampras, Ivanisevic, Roddick were clearly at a disadvantage in favor of the baseliners like Agassi, Nalbandian, Baghdatis, and then Hewitt. Indeed from the beginning of the 2000's the surface of the tennis courts, including grass, became much slower. Indeed I grew up in the 90's watching attacking player such as Edberg, Becker, Stich, Sampras, Ivanisavic, Forget, old McEnroe in Wimbledon. But in 2002, the Hewitt-Nalbandian Wimbledon final really frustrated me: no one took to the net but instead relied on unusally longer rallies... Moreover, during the same transition period Hewitt, with his fighting spirit, also took advantage of the mental fragility of Marat Safin, Marcelo Rios and until 2003 of Federer. Hewitt had the merit of winning in a period when apart from Kuerten, Safin, Costa, Ferrero, and Kafelnikov, the list of Grand Slam tournament winners was made up of either surprise winners such as Thomas Johansson or older "post prime" players such as Petr Korda, Agassi, Ivanisevic, Sampras.... His style of play was a precursor to the style of Murray and of course especially Djokovic, who is now the archetype of the modern player and therefore the most accomplished specimen to date.. until Sinner, Rune and Alcaraz will push the level even further up... But obviously Hewitt style of play was not ergonomic enough to save his body from injuries. He probably lacked the ability to continuously adapt his game. Fon instance the following generations of top players such as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic has in an unprecedented way continually evolved their game and weaknesses: Federer's made a lot of progresses optimizing his footwork and backhand during his career, Nadal improved his backhand, serve and netgame, today Djokovic has the most impredictable serve and the best forehand in the game...

I started watching tennis when Hewitt was breaking through and he was better than Federer at that time.

xx 😊💫

If not for Federer Hewitt would have been the greatest of his generation and a probable GOAT. Remember, he was world no.1 before Federer

Wonder why he had so many injuries? All that running...?

Good enough to not bother showing his Wimbledon title apparently?

It seems like this channel misses an opportunity to make videos like this much more engaging by simply adding some titles with progressive stats. Showing a collection of clips only gives a very vague answer to the video title, “how good was Lleyton Hewitt?”. Titles showing very easy to find information like a tally of his wins, interesting records/stats and other things would make the videos something people would seek out rather than just something they might click on if it appears in their feed.

I’d like to see how he would go in this era if he was in his prime bet be a different story

The Murray from the early 2000s, i think he achieved almost his full potential, maybe injuries cost him anothers slam or masters title but overall i think Fed, Roddick, Safin and later Novak/Rafa/Murray were more talented than him

He was amazing until the injuries plagued him. The first N1 to play the modern baseline game.

Even the Tennis TV officials cannot witness more of Djokovic fans' stupid saying of weak era, that they decided to upload this.

masipa bens?

Guy was a dink off the court

ヒューイット、プリンスのラケット使っててんな。 知らんかったわ。

He was definitely an amazing player, who unfortunately got overshadowed by peak Federer. He would easily be number 1 today in this era of pure mugs and buffoons.

Hewitt was the pioneer of todays baseline boring to the core tennis, then came Ferrero, Nadal and the rest Running left and right, muscle over mind, playing push tennis to the max....also not very charismatic

Sam p and aggassi far superior players.

He was good enough to fill the hole between Sampras and Federer era, not good enough for anything else. The fact that he basically disappeared from tennis when Federer and Nadal improved their game tells enough.

He was so good that a 20 year old Djokovic casually brushed past him in straight sets in his own hometown.

He was so boring and he was able to win something big between Sampras decline e Federer rise . In my opinion lucky

Yeah, the guy named Federer was a young hopeful, but could not beat Hewitt yet in 2001😂 But after 2003, Federer would never lost to Hewitt again.

He only won two Grand Slam titles. He was good, but wasn’t that good

a nadie le intereso nunca la vida de este pibe.... soberbio como el solo... no existe.....

the real weak era world number 1

Wouldnt be anything special today or future he gets me o props as many see him as a lame duck quack

Meh

Hewitt was good at his prime. But calling him "great" is just over dramatic. Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Nadal, Novak are the true GREAT players.

No new highlights, just a mishmash of old videos 😑

Average really