Lleyton Hewitt Hard Quotations

I felt it was a matter of trying to regroup, put my head down, work hard and not to give too many points away in the second set. I wanted to put more pressure on him early in the second set, and I was able to do that. The momentum really swung in my favor and I was able to continue to do that in the third set as well.

When I played him in (London), I didn't find a huge difference from grass to hard court,

Mark's always going to be dangerous in any tournament - especially on hard courts or grass, in the Aussie Open, the US Open, or Wimbledon more so,

It definitely helped him out. There's no doubt about that. You know, he still played extremely well, and he didn't give me a lot of opportunities out there, but the court surface, it's very hard to dictate play out there. It's slower than last year. There's no doubt about that, whether it's the balls or not.

I think he comes off pretty well on hard courts as well. He still gets a few aces and cheap points on hard courts as well.

When your ranking gets outside 150 or 200, there's no doubt that it's hard for anyone to come back and play well week-in and week-out,

I've never played with balls that are getting that big. It's as simple as that. I thought the balls in Rotterdam were quite heavy till I came here. You know, the court's definitely, you know, it's a little bit rough out there. That's always going to chop the balls up a little bit more than a smoother court, such as a US Open hard court. But, you know, there's no reason why the ball should get, you know, that heavy.

I've had a different preparation this year. I did a lot of hard work and training so that I'd last right through the Australian summer.

I'm not quite 100 percent, so it's nice to get through. I felt like I moved a lot better in the past. It's a little bit of confidence with pushing off the ankle. Tonight's match was a tough because Paul competes his heart out, especially on a hard court.

That's what you do all the hard work for, to play in situations that put your body through gruelling times. If you're not up to it, pull out.