{"id":233902,"date":"2025-10-23T02:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T02:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233902\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T02:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T02:07:10","slug":"who-lleyton-hewitt-named-as-the-toughest-opponent-of-his-tennis-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233902\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Lleyton Hewitt named as the toughest opponent of his tennis career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Lleyton Hewitt played against the very best in men\u2019s tennis during his illustrious career.<\/p>\n

The Australian legend made his debut on the ATP Tour<\/a> in 1998 and won his first Grand Slam shortly after.<\/p>\n

Hewitt won the US Open in 2001, defeating American legend Pete Sampras<\/a>, 7-6, 6-1, 6-1, in the final.<\/p>\n

\"Lleyton9 Sep 2001: Lleyton Hewitt of Australia poses for photographers at the trophy presentation after defeating Pete Sampras in the men’s final match of the US Open at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York. Hewitt defeats Sampras 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Ezra\u2026<\/p>\n

He then doubled his major tally at Wimbledon<\/a> a year later, overpowering Argentina\u2019s David Nalbandian on Centre Court.<\/p>\n

That was the last Grand Slam he won; however, as the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic<\/a> began to dominate the sport.<\/p>\n

During his Hall of Fame induction press conference in 2022, Hewitt<\/a> named the toughest opponent of his tennis career.<\/p>\n

Lleyton Hewitt said beating Rafael Nadal at the French Open was the \u2018toughest challenge in tennis\u2019<\/p>\n

Accepting his place in the Tennis Hall of Fame, Hewitt was asked who he felt were the toughest opponents of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the toughest challenge in tennis is playing Rafa [Nadal]<\/a> at the French Open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"LleytonPhoto by Brian Fluharty\/Getty Images for International Tennis Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is the toughest challenge that I\u2019ve ever been part of or ever experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hewitt played Nadal four times at Roland Garros<\/a>, losing on all four occasions, winning just one set.<\/p>\n

MatchWinnerLoserScore2006 French Open \u2013 4RRafael NadalLleyton Hewitt6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-22007 French Open \u2013 4RRafael NadalLleyton Hewitt6-3, 6-1, 7-62009 French Open \u2013 3RRafael NadalLleyton Hewitt6-1, 6-3, 6-12010 French Open \u2013 3RRafael NadalLleyton Hewitt6-3, 6-4, 6-3Lleyton Hewitt vs Rafael Nadal at the French Open<\/p>\n

The Australian recognized that there were several other difficult challenges in tennis, but insisted that playing Nadal on clay was the toughest of them all.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoger Federer could nearly play the perfect match, I think, on most surfaces, especially grass or hard court,\u201d said Hewitt.<\/p>\n

Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer\u2019s H2H on grass\/hardLleyton Hewitt (6-16) Roger Federer<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think playing Rafa on center court at the French Open, it\u2019s pretty much proved itself with how dominant he\u2019s been at that particular tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in a different league. There\u2019s certain times where you just felt like you were helpless out there playing against him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RafaelPhoto by Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hewitt wasn\u2019t alone in his struggles against Nadal on the Parisian clay\u2026<\/p>\n

Nadal is the most successful player in the history of the French Open, winning 14 titles and 112 matches.<\/p>\n

The Aussie did, however, enjoy success against several other big names on tour, despite losing the head-to-head against Nadal and Federer.<\/p>\n

Tim Henman lost nine times to Lleyton Hewitt<\/p>\n

Hewitt played ten matches against former British number one Tim Henman<\/a>, winning nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim Henman. I think there\u2019s something about the Aussies playing the POMs, and it\u2019s like an Ashes battle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MatchWinnerLoserScore2000 Scottsdale \u2013 FLleyton HewittTim Henman6-4, 7-62000 Stuttgart \u2013 3RLleyton HewittTim Henman3-6, 6-3, 6-42001 Queen\u2019s \u2013 FLleyton HewittTim Henman7-6, 7-62002 Indian Wells \u2013 FLleyton HewittTim Henman6-1, 6-22002 Queen\u2019s \u2013 FLleyton HewittTim Henman4-6, 6-1, 6-42002 Wimbledon \u2013 SFLleyton HewittTim Henman7-5, 6-1, 7-52004 Rotterdam Open \u2013 SFLleyton HewittTim Henman6-3, 6-32004 Cincinnati Open \u2013 3RLleyton HewittTim Henman6-1, 6-42006 Miami Open \u2013 2RTim HenmanLleyton Hewitt7-6, 6-32006 Queen\u2019s SFLleyton HewittTim Henman6-3, 3-6, 6-2Lleyton Hewitt and Tim Henman\u2019s head-to-head record<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of my good mates, too, actually. He\u2019s a great guy. We talk a lot about it. I\u2019m very happy I got on the winning end against Henners.<\/p>\n

Henman\u2019s sole career win over Hewitt came at the Miami Open<\/a> in 2006, securing a straight-sets victory.<\/p>\n

Hewitt also had the better of another former world number four, Jonas Bjorkman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a good record against Jonas Bjorkman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lleyton Hewitt (7-0) Jonas Bjorkman<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst time I played him, I was only 16, 17 years old, I think. 16 actually. He was world number four at the time in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Hewitt retired from tennis in 2016 with a 616-262 record, having held the number one ranking for 80 weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Lleyton Hewitt played against the very best in men\u2019s tennis during his illustrious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[753,64,63,37660,964,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-233902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-lleyton-hewitt","12":"tag-rafael-nadal","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}