Lleyton Hewitt paused for a moment as he contrived a word to describe how he how he wanted to be remembered in tennis.
“Competitor,” the 41-year-old said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
“For me, someone that loved to lay it on the line day after day, and got the most out of themselves, I competed as hard as I possibly could on the court every time I took to the court,” Hewitt said.
READ MORE: The Aussie ‘smack talk’ fuel behind England win
READ MORE: Aussie Smith has day to forget as British Open favourite surges
READ MORE: Joey’s surprise Kangaroos call for World Cup
“The fans deserved for us to give everything and go out and compete, and that’s something I prided myself on.”
Hewitt was elected into the Hall as part of the 2021 class, but due to travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was unable to attend the enshrinement ceremony last year. There was no one elected for 2022, so the moment was his alone. He’s the 34th player from Australia to be inducted.
The enshrinement ceremony was held on Newport’s grass side courts after the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Open. Eight Hall of Famers, including Andy Roddick and Tracy Austin attended the event.
During the presentation, Hewitt was honoured with messages from other Australian tennis greats before addressing those in attendance.
“I feel fortunate that I was able to play across different generations, that I was able to be on the same court as my heroes that I looked up to like Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras and then go on and compete against three of the greatest tennis players our sport has ever seen in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic,” he said.
A two-time grand slam champion, Hewitt finished 2001 and 2002 as the No.1 player in the world and spent 80 weeks top-ranked. In 2001, he became the youngest at 20 years, eight months and 26 days to become the top men’s player.
During his career, he won 30 singles titles and was a part of two Davis Cup championship teams in 1999 and 2003.
One of his most memorable moments was being on his first Davis Cup team in 1999.
“I was only 18, I think, at the time. I had Pat Rafter as our top singles player and I was playing No.2 behind him,” he said in the interview.
“For me that was a really proud moment, to be standing beside all those great Australians that I always idolised and looked up to.”
Hewitt won his last ATP title at Newport in 2014. It was then that the thought of being elected to the Hall crossed his mind.
“A lot of people that I would bump into me would say: ‘I can’t wait to see you back here in a few years’. That was probably the only time that you actually start thinking about it,” he said.
He was a runner-up at the Australian Open in 2005. Despite having no regrets, he said that a slam title in his own country was the only thing missing in his career.
“There’s nothing that I would change,” he said.
“But something that I wish, obviously, that I was able to achieve. I felt I was good enough to do.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!