Lleyton Hewitt Played Quotations

Especially big ties. When we've played the finals before, quite often I'd played the Masters Cup and the whole indoor circuit and a lot of matches and maybe I was physically run down a little bit going in,

I played really well in the first set and dictated play from the start,

I probably played the tighter points a bit better than he did out there,

There's no doubt I played my best tennis in the fifth set, ... That's a huge positive to come out of today and, hopefully, I can take it up another level or two in my next round.

There's no doubt I played my best tennis in the fifth set,

I played a great first set and then had to try and weather the storm and take my chances,

He played a lot looser than he's normally played in the past. He's playing more like in practice, where he has always been a great player where he's very flashy and doesn't take it all seriously the whole time. I think he's adopted that a little more in his matches.

In the second set I couldn't put a foot wrong and started to get on top of him, but I just played a slack first game of the third set. I had the momentum big time at that stage, all I had to do was put some pressure on his service game, but some bad double faults and errors meant I was playing catch-up in the third set.

Paul came out and played extremely consistent. Early in the second set I tried to step it up a little more and dictate play.

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.

But in the clutch moments I played pretty well. That was probably the best I played, when the pressure was actually on. That's a good sign, but I haven't really served well the last couple of days and hopefully it can improve tomorrow.

He's played enough big matches and his record in finals against top 10 players over the last two years really speaks for itself. I don't think it's really going to cause him a lot of havoc.

I don't have too much spare time, but I try to play games as much as possible. I played a little growing up, but I never played any tennis games before.

It was tough conditions out there today, ... The wind was swirling and Taylor's never going to give you the match. He's a tough competitor and I really had to earn it. We played some tough tennis and I'm just happy to get through.

I felt like I played pretty solid. I put pressure on nearly all of his service games. I was trying to dictate as much as possible and get him on the defensive.

David played incredible to make the final in his first ever grass-court tournament - that's even better than John McEnroe.

I didn't feel I played badly at all in the second set. Jonas just picked up his game.

Sometimes when I was aggressive and came to the net, he actually played some of his better tennis. That sort of made it a little bit tougher out there because then I get a little bit negative and defensive. That's not the best way for me to play.

That says a lot about where their passion lies and it's not going to be an easy tie at all. I know Max, he loves this kind of competition. I lost to him in the Sydney Olympics when (he was) playing for Belarus. He played extremely strong that day and he's a great doubles player, so I don't think any of the live rubbers are going to be that easy.

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

The last six Grand Slams I've played I've lost to the eventual winner, so I'm doing something right.

Every tournament I've played so far this year I've put myself in a position to win. The last six Grand Slams I've played I've lost to the eventual winner, so I'm obviously doing something extremely right. I've just got to take that next step to hold up the trophy.

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.

In doubles there's only a few points here and there that can change the outcome of the whole match but they played very, very well,

I've always played well in Sydney. Hopefully, I can get some matches there under my belt before going into Melbourne.