Australian star: a hug-hate relationship

The problem for Australians was that the controversy came on the heels of others.

Earlier last year, Hewitt called an umpire "spastic" at the French Open. Then there was the time he turned on bemused fans and labeled them "stupid" for cheering for an opponent.

Yesterday, he added to the controversy

when, rather than congratulate his opponent, Spain's Alberto Martin, he lashed out at him for asking for help from a trainer in the middle of a game late in the final set.

"It would have made my chances a lot better if he'd played fair," the Australian said.

Ever since he burst on the scene as a 16-year-old in 1998 by beating Andre Agassi on his way to winning an Australian Open warmup in his hometown of Adelaide, Hewitt has been criticized for his on-court behavior.

He's vocal. He punches the air. He regularly yells out "C'mon!" as a way to pump himself up. As a result, he can often be an exciting player to watch. But there are plenty of critics who find his on-court behavior teeters on the edge of unsportsmanlike.

How yesterday's loss - and the days to come - are digested by Australians isn't clear. But to his credit, there had been a growing sense ahead of the Australian Open that Hewitt had changed since weathering the racism furor at Flushing Meadows.

Since the US Open, "the racquet bouncing ... and constant cries of 'C'mon!' have been replaced by a steely resolve to be the best, a tunnel vision where outside influences are no longer a distraction," Hewitt's former coach, Darren Cahill, noted in The Sydney Morning Herald recently.

To be fair you also have to occasionally remind yourself that while Hewitt may already be worth millions and have traveled the world for the last four years as a professional tennis player, he is still young.

"He's not yet 21! He's still a boy, basically," says Kerrin Lee, a die-hard fan who runs Hewitt's official website and occasionally bemoans the fact that he inherited the mantle of Australia's tennis hero from someone so charmingly inoffensive as Pat Rafter.

But that doesn't change the fact that Australia's relationship with Hewitt remains ambivalent at best, at least partly because of the relentless intensity that usually serves him so well on the court but can make him seem cold off the court.

Part of that intensity in recent weeks was undoubtedly the result of the pressure Hewitt was feeling as the only real Australian hope entering this year's Australian Open. Mark Philippoussis, the only other top-tier Australian player, is making a comeback from injury. Rafter has decided to take a few months off as part of what many see as the beginning of his retirement.

There are, of course, plenty of Australians who are willing to see Hewitt as more than a millionaire brat with a thumping forehand.

Rosanne Michie, the editor of Australian Tennis Magazine, argues that he represents a kind of "sassy" role model for children now taking up tennis, and as a result, will inevitably be good for the game in Australia. More so even, because of his middle-class roots.

"The fact that Lleyton is young, sassy, and emerged by virtue of his killer instinct rather than any particular privilege sets a great example for the young boys and girls in Australia," she says.

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