Hewitt in plea over Sampras

Chris Jones13 April 2012

Lleyton Hewitt, who is favourite to lift the Wimbledon men's single title after securing a third successive Stella Artois trophy, has called on the All England Club to let Pete Sampras play the first match of this year's championships next Monday.

Wimbledon chiefs are debating how to overcome the problem created by defending champion Goran Ivanisevic's shoulder operation that will force him to watch the action from the sidelines this year.

Hewitt, who defeated British No1 Tim Henman 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 for the second successive year in the final at Queen's, believes that seven times Wimbledon champion Sampras is the only man who should be given the honour of launching the 2002 championships.

Hewitt, who will be top seed next week, said: "I think Pete should open the championships because he is the last winner before Goran in the field. Now that Goran and Pat Rafter, last year's beaten finalist, can't play then it has to be Pete because he's the greatest player ever at Wimbledon."

In years to come, Hewitt may draw similar praise from others as the 21-year-old is producing the kind of grass court tennis from the baseline only previously seen from Andre Agassi.

The Australian, who won the US Open last September, said: "It won't put any extra pressure on me being the No1 seed at Wimbledon because I was in that position at the Australian and French Opens this year.

"I am hitting the ball as well as last year on grass. The only difference is that I have now got the experience of winning a Grand Slam title and know what it takes to win seven five set matches. It's all about pacing yourself and if I get into the position of being able to win another Slam then I will know what it's all about. You can get overawed in that situation but let's remember I have not been past the round of 16 at Wimbledon yet."

In securing a 15th straight win at Queen's, Hewitt became the first player to successfully defend the Stella title twice since John McEnroe in 1981.

Henman tried a new tactical plan but came up short after winning the first set. Despite this setback the British player insists he is still a good bet to eventually lift the title at Queen's.

Henman, who will now have a week off from tournament tennis, said: "My game is in pretty good shape. I have been working on various aspects for seven months and have produced my best results ever.

"I can improve in every area of my play and this defeat came down to a couple of key points. I played the right tactical game for the first set and needed to produce that standard of tennis for longer. I am please with the way I have played at Queen's, although it doesn't hide my disappointment at losing.

Meanwhile, Russian top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, for the third time when he came from a set down to beat local favourite Nicolas Kiefer 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 despite almost defaulting because of a foot injury while Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic prepared for Wimbledon with her first WTA title on grass, defeating Russia's Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the DFS Classic at Edgbaston.

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