Tennis: Hewitt Faces Reckoning in Melbourne

Lleyton Hewitt must now answer an important question himself. His girlfriend, the world number two, Kim Clijsters, answered one when Hewitt proposed just before Christmas; the poser for him is whether he can revive his career after a year in which he failed to win a grand slam and dropped from one to 17 in the world rankings.

One newspaper reported that the 22-year-old Hewitt was 'astride the Sydney Harbour Bridge' when he asked Clijsters to marry him, which suggested that he must have been on more than nandrolone during his extended break last autumn. In fact, as we saw in Perth and Sydney in the first two weeks of 2004, he remains one of the smaller players on the men's circuit and the nub of the question is whether his outsize competitive spirit and exceptional speed are still enough to make his unexceptional game a championship winner.

Clijsters answered her question without hesitation and in the affirmative, which Hewitt may find harder to do, although victory in the Australian Open would be a pretty convincing rejoinder that he is indeed playing as well as he has ever done.

The danger is that Hewitt has been sussed, that behind the huff, puff and demented breast-beating there is not an awful lot. 'He wins a lot of his matches on his speed and determination and guts,' says Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion. 'Once someone gets used to your game, that's all you have to rely on, and when you're not on top of your own form you become an average player.'

Hewitt reached only one quarter-final in last year's four grand slams and suffered two particularly surprising defeats. At the French Open, he lost to Tommy Robredo after leading the young Spaniard 6-4 6-1 3-0 - the sort of lead he normally converts pitilessly into victory. At Wimbledon, where he began his defence of the title by taking the first set 6-1 against the 6ft 10in Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic, he contrived to lose the next three. By the end of both these defeats, his reputation for cussed invincibility looked as real as the emperor's new clothes.

John Alexander, who once played Davis Cup for Australia and is now a television commentator, gives an interesting version of what may have gone wrong with Hewitt. 'I liken Lleyton to a business that has become successful - businesses become successful by being risk takers and adventurers and then companies, once they get rich, protect what they have. And in tennis if you play conservatively all you're doing is giving everybody who is willing to be enterprising a chance to beat you.'

Hewitt may have reached the same conclusion during what was the one truly outstanding match he played last year, the Davis Cup singles on 21 September in which he beat the mightily talented Roger Federer, who succeeded him as Wimbledon champion. Hewitt trailed by two sets and 5-3 in the semi-final in Melbourne before blazing his way to a victory that won the tie and prompted his captain, John Fitzgerald, to say: 'What he did today I'll never forget for the rest of my life.' The key to that victory was his abruptly abandoning the comfort zone that Alexander identified, flattening out his forehand and playing the sort of go-for-broke tennis that won him the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon titles. He played only one more singles all year, beating Juan Carlos Ferrero - again in Melbourne, but this time on grass - to help Australia defeat Spain in the Davis Cup final.

Hewitt, not over-eager to play on the Association of Tennis Professionals' tour at a time when he is suing them over what he regards as an unfair fine for skipping a television interview, took the rest of the autumn off. He had a wart that had been troubling him for two years removed from the sole of his foot, then tried to bulk up so he could add a bit of biff to his serve and work on the flatter, more penetrative forehand that had so discomfited Federer. He also found time to wander around his swanky new home in Adelaide, which is touted as the most expensive and best-equipped in South Australia's capital - cinema inside, waterfalls outside.

Now comes the reckoning with the year's first grand slam at Melbourne Park and the men's game in a more competitive state than it has been for some time. Andy Roddick is the new world number one just ahead of Federer, Ferrero and the inexhaustible Andre Agassi, who is the champion in Melbourne. Federer and Ferrero, like Roddick, won their first grand slams in 2003. All three added the finishing touch of maturity to their games during the course of a year in which Hewitt was forced to question the suitability of his, with its emphasis on counter-punch rather than attack. Hewitt, seeded only 15, knows he must be more aggressive.

Clijsters' hopes of winning her first grand slam were sadly diminished when she aggravated an ankle injury in practice last week. It was the latest blow for the women's singles with former champions Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce and the reigning title-holder Serena Williams all ruled out by injury. Venus Williams will play, but it will be her first tournament since last year's Wimbledon, where she competed despite a stomach strain, and Lindsay Davenport is struggling to catch up after 2003 was dominated by her marriage and recovering from foot surgery.

It would be nice to think that France's Amélie Mauresmo would make something of the opportunity that this injury list offers, but she remains infuriatingly prone to imploding on the big occasion. The likelihood is that it will be the increasingly battle-hardened Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne who picks up her third grand-slam crown since winning her first two in Paris and New York last year.