SOMETIMES A feeling that a player has passed his time just creeps into the consciousness. After yesterday's first round of matches, Lleyton Hewitt seemed to have fallen into that slow slide from the contender's circle. Still a competitor capable of highs, but 27-year-old Hewitt no longer has the aura of a player that can live with the pacesetters in a tournament of two weeks' duration.
The last man to win here before Roger Federer grabbed the competition in 2003 and ran with it, Hewitt came into London down on court time and carrying a hip injury. But the yard dog in him lives on and, visibly limping during his match with the Dutch debutant Robin Haase, the fiery Australian fist pumped and swore his way through a struggling five sets to finally nail the match 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.
Hewitt's was one of the few epic battles on a perfect opening day at the championships. With Federer playing tidy, exacting and flowing tennis against Dominik Hrbaty and third seed Novak Djokovic stuttering just once in the second set against Germany's Michael Berrer, the patricians of the draw will have left for their hotels last night with some peace of mind.
Federer's 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 defeat of his old sparring partner Hrbaty was a carefree romp. The practice partners found common ground about the outcome somewhere during the match and at the end Hrbaty walked to Federer's changeover seat and asked to sit beside him. The injury-plagued Slovakian knows his days are numbered and to play Federer in the first round of a Grand Slam is as good a way as any to sign off. So the two sat chatting before Federer put him to the sword.
"I looked over and he was there. He asked if he could sit next to me. I said sure," said Federer. "We go way back. Used to play doubles together. Used to practise together."
That was as cosy as it got before Hrbaty's metaphorical gizzard was stuck.
Djokovic, perhaps less au fait with Centre Court than the other players threatening to win the title, was not discommoded by dropping a set against Berrer. The first match is always just a must-win event. Nothing else matters. The 23-year-old Serb and Australian Open champion has a meeting with Hewitt if both advance to the last four. And Djokovic quietly talked up his chances if that transpires. Perhaps thinking like many others, he damned Hewitt with faint praise.
"Lleyton is a great player, very tough player to play against on grass even though he may not be on top of the level," said Djokovic. "He won a Wimbledon. He played a couple of finals and semi-finals of the Grand Slams. You have to respect that."
But the perfectionist Djokovic was less revealing when asked about the second-set capitulation when Berrer rolled off five successive games for 6-2.
"Obviously I want everything to be 100 per cent. Of course that's not possible," he said. "Sometimes I just lose my focus and get frustrated. That second set was not a good picture in my game."
The overall picture is that the main players have vaulted the first fence in the tennis Grand National and there are no major jockeys unseated.
Today the first hurdle for the bottom half of the draw takes off with Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and the fourth seed, Nikolay Davydenko, all facing nervous first outings.
