Puncher and Stylist Fight for the Crown

Tennis always enters the new year in something of an unholy rush, with preparation for the season's opening slam, the Australian Open, which begins here on Monday, confined to a minimum.

All home eyes will be on Adelaide's Lleyton Hewitt, the world No1, who will start the hot favourite to bring the men's title back to Australia for the first time since Mark Edmondson in 1976. In the wider context, however, the focus of attention will fall on those who might topple Hewitt from the top of the pile over the next 11 months.

Hewitt claimed the world No1 ranking during the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney late in 2001 and has rarely looked like relinquishing it. True, he lost his US Open title last year, but he triumphed at Wimbledon for the first time and rounded off the year by retaining the Masters Cup in Shanghai. "Well, there it is, boys", he seemed to say. "Now come and get me if you can."

The queue, it must be admitted, is not huge. Russia's Marat Safin has the power to surge past Hewitt but frequently lacks the concentration, and the most naturally gifted player on the circuit, Switzerland's Roger Federer, whether dressed in saintly all-white or dark and devilish all-black, continues to drag his many supporters into moods of grey pessimism with his infuriating lack of consistency.

Such was the case on Tuesday when, defending his title in Sydney, the 21-year-old lost his opening match limply in straight sets against Argentina's Franco Squillari. He complained of a sore right leg, lack of practice, too short a break from one year to the next, different balls, faster courts - the usual litany of excuses that pros trot out at the beginning of the year when searching for form.

Federer, more than many, is a player of rhythms and a disciple of perfection. His game has only to be a little awry and it can be quite awful, but to see him in top form is to glimpse the sublime. Such was the case at Wimbledon two years ago when, in the fourth round on centre court, he became only the second player in nine years to defeat Pete Sampras, then the reigning champion, at the All England Club.

"I suppose that win gave me my international breakthrough. Actually I was already injured coming into Wimbledon that year and I was playing with painkillers," said Federer, who duly lost in the quarter-finals against Tim Henman. Nevertheless his amazing victory over Sampras, when the quality of his ground strokes on many occasions surpassed the master's, appeared to signal that the young Swiss, a former world junior No1, had come of age.

Yet it was Hewitt who ended that year the dominant young force, taking the US Open title by beating Sampras in the final after Federer lost in the fourth round in straight sets against Andre Agassi. The Swiss was not surprised but a little envious. "Lleyton is so solid and he is such a fantastic mover. There are times when I still have to tell myself to move to the ball."

Federer has worked hard on the physical side of his game and this began to pay real dividends last year when he won three titles, including the Hamburg Tennis Masters on clay, his least favourite surface, defeating Safin in the final. Yet his performances in the grand slams were disappointing. "I know that people are expecting me to break through at the highest level, and that's what I'm expecting from myself. And, of course, I've love to do it in Australia," he says.

Back in 1996 in the World Youth Cup in Zurich, when both were 15-year-olds, Federer defeated Hewitt after saving match point in a third-set tie-break. It was the beginning of what many think will be one of the great rivalries of the next decade, and it is one Federer believes he can edge. "I love playing Lleyton, and I know that if I can stay fit I can be extremely dangerous to him."

It is a match-up guaranteed to thrill everybody on all surfaces: Hewitt, armed with what Sampras has called "the best wheels in the business", is the classic counter-attacker who loves a target and who has a will to win second to none; Federer is the attacking genius whose loose and lan guid skills can rain down destruction with a purity of stroke that only the most exceptional in any sport possess, skills which the Swiss player, a little under six months younger than Hewitt, has in abundance.

To date they have met eight times with Hewitt holding an impressive 6-2 advantage, the most recent encounter being in the semi-final of the year-ending Masters Cup which Hewitt won 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 in a match of the highest quality. There was little in it other than the Australian's greater self-conviction.

Whereas Hewitt occasionally admits that a player such as Safin has the ability or power on any given day to wipe him away, Federer knows he has the talent to beat anybody at any time or place. "I never feel like any other player is putting me under pressure ... I put the pressure on myself."

Federer's self-belief, after reaching the top 10 for the first time last year and finishing No6, has increased sharply. His talent is unquestionable. If he can overcome those inner demons, the rivalry with Hewitt could really take off.