3-HOUR EPIC! Lleyton Hewitt vs Roger Federer Highlights | ATP Finals 2002 Semi-Final

[@popantermopan4099]

Hewitt pretty much pioneered this century's type of baseline playing. His succes mainly came against serve & volley type of players tho.

[@roter13]

Agassi was already doing that before Hewitt can along

[@t-bone7988]

He loved a target

[@alexg7836]

He was s transitional champion but I think he's underrated

[@thebeardedgolfer9819]

@@alexg7836 Agreed, especially given his size. If he were same game but 6’5”, would have been hell to pay.

[@foodreacts837]

did he always play from the back court

[@MattAnast83]

That was almost 20 years ago! Wow! Thanks, Tennis TV.

[@steven7846]

the only thing hewitt lacked was power ! He still managed to be number 1 with an incredible mental strength and a consistent all round game.

[@tsugumi_seishirou]

Power doesn't matter as much back in those days compared to nowadays. But that's why Hewitt got progessively worse (his injuries was also a big factor) as the court speed and tennis ball slows down.

[@alexg7836]

He fights so hard it's incredible

[@dickn.ormous1064]

​@@tsugumi_seishirou It did matter.Agassi played pretty much the same style and won more despite having below average defence only because of his superior power.

[@danguee1]

@@dickn.ormous1064 Correct......

[@danguee1]

@@tsugumi_seishirou I'm amazed anyone can say something like that and get upvotes! It's always been a big advantage to have more power - provided it doesn't impact on your consistency - in any age of the game. Only on the slow European clay of yesteryear (and these days to a lesser extent) did power have less effect. Did you not know that Agassi and Sampras blew people off court with their power? And Becker and Lendl before that....

[@t-bone7988]

Just beautiful hitting from both players. Respect. Hewitt in his prime was unbeatable

[@tomsd8656]

Nah, this is a far inferior version of Federer, and he's playing pretty even with Hewitt. The 2004 and later versions of Federer was pretty much untouchable for Hewitt.

[@madgavin7568]

Hewitt was never unbeatable, but he was always one of the hardest players to beat.

[@temp850]

Hewitt was fantastic - a kind of hybrid version of say, Connors and Wilander but not as talented overall. In most eras he would have won three or four majors at least but his era had three of the four best, ever. He was never going to be a long lived mighty champion but he has achieved much more than any of us that are posting.

[@Aksriv100]

There is literally no one who plays Tennis more beautifully than Roger Federer 💯💯

[@davidthailand4309]

Doch justin Brown.

[@spawnwear301]

@@davidthailand4309 hard disagree. Brown hits clean shots, but not even close to the level of gracefulness of old man fed

[@davidthailand4309]

@@spawnwear301 yes But Justin Always Entertainer...never Boring..and Roger ist King because Backhand...all shots Clean

[@tennisgenius4850]

Who cares? He is still not the best ever, and will never be.

[@Aksriv100]

@@tennisgenius4850 Laughable that you call yourself Tennis Expert

[@alexg7836]

Looking back at early clips, you can see how uncomfortable Federer is hitting a top spin backhand

[@t-bone7988]

yeh rushes too much

[@jonterrett]

2001-2002 prime Hewitt

[@DNA2000-8bit]

I don't like the guy, but Hewitt has the most technically proficient strokes off every wing than any pro I've ever watched. He's a walking instructional textbook of modern tennis stroke production. He has no personal hitch to any stroke, serve or volley.

[@mindrover777]

Totally agree

[@thesoccergod]

The Fed - missing breakpoints and set-points since 2002. 🙄

[@julianchamas5691]

Thanks atp tennis

[@Zsword92]

These youngsters are looking like they'll have a great career in the future! Keep at it boys

[@sonampatra2493]

Lol.. future ?? 😆

[@mindrover777]

Both did.

[@endorstoi863]

Just passing through on my journey to watch every Federer match.

[@shobhitsrivastava6497]

When Hewitt used to be Djokovic before Djokovic

[@JohnDoe-dp4kx]

Sure...20 slams for the Serb vs 2 for the Aussie...other than that, they play alike....

[@temp850]

@@JohnDoe-dp4kx They do play alike, its just that Novak is better.

[@anandparmeswaran6681]

Dojkovic has better placement of shots and more power compared to Hewitt. Hewitt never improvised his game that's why he ended up only with 2 Grand Slams .

[@torelarsenn]

Federer reeallyy improved his topspin backhand since those days.

[@じぇーちゃんねる-m7t]

Does this 1.5x speed!? They move incredibly fast….miss those days

[@dba8211]

I always wondered how Hewitt could ever beat these guys.. I mean I really can't see any massive strengths except i guess consitency.. he doesnt have a big serve, forehand, backhand or great volleys but he was number 1 and won grandslams, can anyone explain?

[@bazza2540]

Tennis back then had faster courts and playmakers who were happy making errors as they were making many winners. Hewitt came in with excellent return of serve and rarely missed and demolished guys like Sampras with low/deep returns. The game was slowed down for the worse when they got worried about serve-bots coming in and dominating, but instead made the game a stay-back-and-dont-miss game. One year, at wimbledon, they opened all the ball cans 2 weeks before the tournament to make them flat and slower. But with slow courts guys like Hewitt just couldn't finish points and instead heavier hitters like Nadal, who was strong but also didn't miss much, came to dominate.

[@tomsd8656]

He was very fast, but the problem with that is you can't be the quickest guy for too long.

[@madgavin7568]

Hewitt in his prime had four things going for him that made him so consistent and what made him a champion; speed, court coverage, heart and shot selection. Hewitt was one of the quickest guys on the tour who could chase down shots made against him that most other players couldn't, which made his defences difficult to penetrate and would often frustrate serve and volley players like Sampras, who couldn't get their games going against Hewitt because he shut them down. This also tied into his mentality which was his most notable trait. Hewitt simply put, was a fighter who fought for every point and you could never count him out of a match even when he was losing, as he'd always go down swinging. Because he had so much heart and because fighting spirit wasn't as regarded at the time in Tennis like it is now, he'd frequently break and defeat more skilled and talented opponents by outwilling them. Finally his shot selection (or Tennis IQ) was S tier, and probably the most underappreciated aspect of his game as it was the main reason why he was so consistent. If Andre Agassi is calling you one of the shot selectors in the history of Tennis (which he did for Lleyton Hewitt), you're clearly doing something right.

[@The_Great_One]

Noserer definitely had some work done JESUS

[@ЮрийСт-ч5п]

Роджер как по мне почти самый совершенный игрок в туре, его технический арсенал и его исполнение это настоящее искусство! Единственно, видно, что по менталке Роджер увы это всегда была его ахилессовой пятой! В этом компоненте он проигрывал и Надалю, и Новаку, да и Хьюитт по бойцовости характера Роджера превосходил, даже в этом матче видно, что по игре Роджер смотрится лучше, но Хьюитт как бультерьер вцепляется в каждый мяч, и это деморолизует Роджера, в дальнейшем будет тоже самое с Рафой и Новаком! Роджеру тяжело играть с бойцами, потому что сам он по натуре творец и виртуоз, каждое очко он выигрывает элегантно и технично! А против "разрушителей" это не действует

[@gevsjan8012]

Fed feddddd feddexxxxxx , had his chances 😂 didn’t take them

[@thesoccergod]

Name: Roger Federer Born: To Play Tennis (on August 8, 1981) Talent: To create unprecedented kinaesthetic art on the tennis court Goal: To play the "perfect game" Achievement(s): 20 grand slam titles, 103 overall titles, et cetera et cetera Hobbies: Creating and missing breakpoints, set points, and match points Watching highlights of matches like this only reinforces my view that the *Fed is modern tennis's OG* - its greatest, most varied, and most prolific exponent. Everything he's done has been done in sheer *abundance* - indeed, it seems to me there is *nothing* that can _ever_ be done on a tennis court (besides playing with a two-handed backhand) that the Fed has not done in his 20+ years and 1500+ matches as a professional player.

[@alfieflatters3611]

Hewitt so quick pre injuries

[@foodreacts837]

Back when there is no double lines

[@Zsword92]

5:32 pretty sure that was in..

[@ViaticalTree]

This is very good quality SD footage, and it looked like it might have been in, but you still can’t tell from this.

[@ericwashington4236]

By his time, the ball was getting heavier, to make the game more entertaining.

[@foodreacts837]

Lleyton is always at the back court

[@crawler3384]

Why is Ruud reminding me of Hewitt sometimes?

[@saurabhsharma4304]

Ruud's forehand is much more lethal

[@Ivanatis]

their careers afterwards though

[@shelendrasharma9680]

roger's court coverage is sogood

[@t-bone7988]

Hewitt better

[@AGAU1022]

Modern tennis started with Hewitt peaking basically.

[@ZAY109]

Hewitt in his prime vs Federer who was very close to his prime.

[@NamTran-xc2ip]

Yep, prime Hewitt here, he’s out of prime in 2003. Fed is 0-5 Hewitt in in Hewitt’s prime. Hewitt> Federer

[@madgavin7568]

@@NamTran-xc2ip Hewitt was out of his prime in 2005 due to injuries taking away his speed.

[@markmartinez2530]

bUt fEdErRRer wEaK eRa!!!11!!

[@goderer2057]

Federer back then was shapovalov on steroids

[@sumanchowdhury6162]

At the point, Federer didn't have patience.

[@PrivaBonito]

How the fuck the chair umpire pronounces Hewitt???

[@jackysanchez913]

I dont understand Federer lack of service

[@cbmtrx]

Ah yes, that "weak era".

[@ScorpiaxCube5]

73 points shown

[@vladomontezuma626]

I don't understand why Federer was not that good when he was below 21... I like Federer but Nadal and Djokovic are better at this age Djoko had 4 masters and 1GS and 1 runner-up at GS and Nadal was Monster teenager with 9 masters and 3 GS and 1 runner-up... compared to them Federer had only 1 masters and 0 GS finals. I don't think opponents were better but Federer didn't play that great back then, he was even better when he was 38 than 20 or 21...

[@JohnDoe-dp4kx]

That is a valid point! It seems ,watching many videos, that he benefited more from the new technologies than other players thanks to a really good technique and coordination and also, strangely enough, got faster, fitter than he was younger...we may not want to know how....ask Sergio Cruz, Jim Courrier's ex coach. But is is uncanny how this guy, maybe the GOAT, never could beat the older players like Rafter, Kuerten, Kultis, Kafelnikov....and waited his 6th encounter to finally win a match vs Nalbandian etc....

[@vladomontezuma626]

@@JohnDoe-dp4kx I agree, Federer benefited from newer technologies, it's was not about weak era it was about him :)

[@haririmedkhalil4762]

I dunno if you were watching Federer late 90's early 2000's (not highlights on youtube) but Fed mental drastically changed. From being expressive and getting easily upset on court to calm and emotionless on court. I call the difference, Federer pre-necklace and post-necklace. His game was already on top tho but his mental wasn't following

[@popantermopan4099]

Some players just peak later.

[@vladomontezuma626]

@@haririmedkhalil4762 I agree with everyone you said but I Don't like how people says Federer played in weak era because that "weak" era were able to beat Federer fair&square until Federer raised his level above, so it still depended on Federer.

[@amanagrawal4976]

18:13 Is he Nadal ??😂😂

[@AGAU1022]

Did Federer invent Nadal on that shot haha

[@foodreacts837]

Hewitt was so young here

[@Augalv]

SO GLAD THE AGE OF FEDERER IS OVER

[@cbmtrx]

SO GLAD THE AGE OF DJOKOVIC IS ENDING. WE WENT FROM CLASS TO ASS.

[@야리까리-p3w]

At that time Hewitt's girlfriend was Kim maybe.

[@wh2567]

22years ago😂

[@l.rongardner2150]

Weak-era GOAT defeating weak-era Slam champion.

[@cbmtrx]

Ignorant

[@pauljohnson6019]

Is Roger going to be fit enough, to play AO2022- with Djokovic not there, he's basically banned himself- in a good twist of fortune, so Roger can't let this opportunity slip!

[@YesSirPhil]

Roger atm is far away from stepping on a tenniscourt. I hope he will be ready for the grass court season.

[@thebigsquirrel50]

Roger is 100% not playing the AO. And depending on the word from the Australian govt, Djoker may actually still have a chance to play.

[@thetruth65756]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 yes, Roger will definitely be in shape to take on all the next gen on a fast court

[@pauljohnson6019]

@@thebigsquirrel50 What do you mean 100% not playing? Did he confirm this himself, or are you putting words in his mouth?

[@thebigsquirrel50]

@@pauljohnson6019 I'm leaning on my confidence. Obviously I have no word from him, as much as I'd like to. If he came back, I'd consider that an extremely successful surgery.

[@hubert-28nmixx]

third

[@jawadharake2350]

It was clearly the lack of experience that loss him the match

[@TONDANO11]

fourth

[@drdestroy453]

First

[@t-bone7988]

no one cares

[@CommanderGinyu]

Federer losing to Hewitt is so embarrassing. Djokovic or Nadal would never ever drop a set against this mug. Shows how overrated federer really is

[@shmtennis5212]

Haha, Hewitt on one hip gave Novak a decent scare at the 2012 Olympics. Hewitt's injury problems started in 2005. 2000-2005 was a different animal. He also beat Nadal 4 times and Djokovic once. The day before Nadal lost his 81 match win streak on clay at Hamburg 07 he played over 3 hours against Hewitt in the semis to win 7-5 in the 3rd set.

[@nickknight5373]

"Djokovic or Nadal would never ever drop a set against this mug" - apart from the sets and indeed entire matches they did drop.

[@ntnnot]

Just that they did. An idiotic post. Learn your history.

[@nathan2497]

Ignorant post from a troll you clearly don't know what you're talking about considering Hewitt was a great player himself and he had won against both Nadal and Djokovic and took sets off both in losses to them.

[@dewman7477]

Just an idiot here

[@jose12234]

third