Aussie Rules: Learning from Lleyton

Tom Downs

As a high performance coach, and a student of the game, there's a lot of things I've learned over the years from Lleyton Hewitt. Lleyton has a relatively simple style of play, and club players of all levels can learn a lot from this former world number one. I have followed Lleyton's progress over the years very closely. Interestingly, his manager, David Drysdale, is one of my former junior coaches. These days, I spend a good amount of the year on the road as a tour coach and I bump into David from time to time. I am always keen to pick his brain about Lleyton's progress.

I first saw Lleyton Hewitt play when he was 15 years old. He was in a Men's futures event at Club Coops in Brisbane, Australia, which just happened to be the club I trained at as a junior. This tournament was an annual highlight for me. I got to see many great players play here before they made it on the regular tour, such as Pat Rafter, Hewitt, Andrew Illie, and Mark Phillipoussis. I remember a lot of club players watching Hewitt's matches and marvel at his intense attitude, his returns of serve, his ability to surprise the opposition, and when he got a lead he never changed his game plan but focused on doing the same things but only better. In the weeks following this event, I saw a lot of coaches at the club giving lessons to club players and emphasizing a lot of the things they had observed from watching Hewitt.

In 1998, Hewitt launched his pro career in his hometown of Adelaide. There he won his first title beating Agassi along the way. He was a better version of what I had seen some 18 months earlier at coops.

We know that Lleyton has spent a couple of years at number one, and has won two grand slams. It is probably fair to say he is a victim of his time, meaning that he was someone who excelled against serve volleyers like Rafter and Sampras, as he loved targets and the points were shorter and not as physically demanding, as compared to playing a Nadal or Agassi. When the serve and volleyers were gone, he had success against the great baseliners, and all court players, but playing a counterpunching style of play will take its toll on your body. History shows that these players, who play this style, don't stay at the top for as long as the all court players.

Let's take a look at the 3 most important things which you can learn from Hewitt and apply to your own game, along with some drills regularly used by Hewitt in both practice sets and drill sessions. The drills can be used by club players at all levels.

The Element of Surprise Is a Huge Weapon

Lleyton uses the element of surprise to his advantage and that is a huge weapon in tennis. He has been labeled by other greats, including Agassi, as one of the best shot selectors tennis has seen. Lleyton has a broad range of shots and due to the fact that his speed and anticipation are so good, he can get to a lot of balls ahead of the bounce and therefore, he has a lot of options. He moves the ball around the court extremely well, plays excellent defense and has the ability to put balls in places where people can't attack him. He has excellent volleys and the ability to come in behind some big forehands and finish points at the net.

Lleyton re-directs the play extremely well, and uses some good one-two combinations. An example of this is when he hits a wide serve to the deuce court and follows it up with his down the line backhand. His variations with serves and returns are very good. He keeps the best servers guessing, and can play excellent defense early in points on his service games and he can turn that defense either to neutral or he can take control of the point.

The lesson here is that it is a must for all club players to be able to surprise the opposition. And to have some simple patterns to use that are reliable. Here's a couple of drills to add to your practice sessions:

Triangle Drill: Play practice sets with a "triangle" in the middle of the court. You can use chalk to mark out the triangle or "yellow lines" which are available at tennis stores. The triangle is a danger zone, as it is never a good thing to leave balls short in the middle of the court. The idea of this drill is to keep the ball outside the triangle. The size of the triangle can vary depending on your level of play. You are also not allowed to hit the same exact shot, with regards to pace, location, and trajectory, more than twice in a row. If you hit a shot inside the triangle, the point is over. And if your third shot is the exact same as your first two, in any point, you lose that point automatically.

lleyton will regularly play practice sets with the triangle in the middle of the court on the opposite side he is on. He will also work a lot on serve and first ball patterns, and his first shot after the serve always has to be either deep crosscourt or deep down the line, well outside of the triangle.

High net drill: Lleyton rarely misses into the net. A big part of the element of surprise is mixing your trajectory of shot while being both aggressive and consistent at the same time. A great drill to work on both of these things is the "high net drill". For this, you need two ball tubes. You need to untie the middle net strap. Now with the two ball tubes you will divide the net into thirds. Stick the ball tubes up into the net to make the net into thirds. After this is done, you and your practice partner can begin hitting with each other down the middle, and your goal will be to make 30 balls in a row over the net. Both of you must remember to be aggressive and mix up your trajectory of shots. You can change the amount of balls you choose to make, and vary the drills you do.

Two on one: The famous drills established by the late great Aussie coach, Harry Hopman, are various forms of two on one drills. This is where two players are on one side of the court, one on each half of the court, and they are hitting against one person. A very common two on one drill is where the "two people" both hit cross court and the "one person" hits two cross and then goes down the line. The one person should make 30 balls and then rotate the one person. 

You can also do the "high net drill" in a two on one format, and with a triangle at both ends. Net errors were considered to be so bad that Lleyton would have to run and pick the ball up, and then feed it in, if he missed into the net.

Stretching a Lead

When Hewitt gets ahead in matches, he raises his level of play. He is like a tiger eating away at its prey. He knows that if he backs off or loses focus, the opposition can very quickly get back into the match. Hewitt focuses on doing the same things that got him the lead, but only better. Every point matters and there are no free points when you play Hewitt. He is at you all the time. There are no real peaks or valleys in his performance over the course of a 3 or 5 set match. It's like he just cruises along playing the same high quality of solid, but not spectacular tennis, that got him ahead in the match.

I have observed a lot of players at all levels of the sport, and often times I see players get complacent when they have a lead. Their intensity decreases, and perhaps some even believe that the match is as good as finished. A player can never assume a match is over until the handshake, and the golden rule is that you never change a winning plan.

Crosscourt cone drill: Place two fairly large orange cones, one at each end in the forehand corner for a right handed player. With your partner, hit aggressively, but mix up your trajectory of shots towards the cones, and see who can hit the most cones. Hit 50 balls total. And then switch sides. It is so important to have different types of crosscourt shots.

Drill: Start a practice set when you are ahead, say 4-2. You have to play the same style of tennis that got you the lead, and concentrate on staying in the present. Hewitt will regularly lie to himself a bit when he has a lead, and tell himself that he is the player behind, when in fact he isn't. This way, he always maintains excellent focus and intensity, along with a burning desire to win every point. There are many variations to this drill that Hewitt would use. Sometimes, as a junior, he would play a practice set with himself down love 30 every game. Other times 30 love up. Be creative with this drill but make sure that you create a match environment for yourself.

Drill: Play a practice set with a friend who’s a bit below your level. And whom you've played and beaten a few times before in a fairly close contest. The drill consists of you playing best of 3 sets starting at 42 up in each set. The idea is to play solid tennis and close the match out in two sets. At the change of ends, you need to write down on a sheet of paper how many errors you made in the last game and also write down how you got the lead. Your goal is to play the same kind of solid tennis that has worked against this person in the past, while making any necessary adjustments along the way. I know you can't do this for the first set, as you're starting at 42, but at least you know how the other person plays and how you've had success against them before.

The Return of serve

During the early part of the decade, Hewitt was regarded as having the best return of serve in the game. To this day, he still returns great. Agassi may have returned more aggressively, but Hewitt gets a lot more back and over the course of a long match, this wears people down. He constantly makes you play.

Lleyton looks for cues in a server, such as the contact and toss, so that he can anticipate the location of the serve as quickly as possible. He studies the opposition so that he understands their tendencies and favorite serves. As I said earlier, he returned great against the serve and volleyer, as he loves targets.

The lesson for all club players here though, is that it is so important to neutralize first serves, and pressure your opponent immediately after they hit a second serve. When Lleyton was number 1, I know that his coach Darren Cahill kept statistics on how many points he would win off the opposition's first serve. This a large part of the reason as to why he held a winning record against quality servers such as Sampras, Ivanisevic, and Rafter. Now that Lleyton is in the twilight of his storied career, he still returns great and forces guys to work hard to hold serve. Applying the Hewitt mentality on returns can work for every style of player, as well as every level of player.

Club players often don't spend enough time working on their returns of serve. It is important to simulate match conditions when practicing this most important part of the sport. And those that want to really take the Hewitt approach will reap the benefits.

Drill: Have your practice partner or coach serve to you from the service line on their side of the court. Have them serve in whatever direction they wish to. The idea here is to watch their contact closely and figure out where their serve is going. After you get good at this, have them serve at you from the three quarter court area, and work on the same things. Also, make sure that you start the split just before their contact and when you land from your split, you should know which direction their serve is going. Then have them serve from the baseline, and you should have increased confidence in your ability to anticipate their serves. Hewitt pays attention to details very carefully when he's returning and one could argue that because his anticipation is so good, he steals opponents aces.  Ideally, players should hit at least 50 returns a day.

Now that Lleyton is in the twilight of his storied career, he still returns great and forces guys to work hard to hold serve. Applying the Hewitt mentality on returns can work for every style of player, as well as every level of player. Club players often don’t spend enough time working on their returns of serve. It is important to simulate match conditions when practicing this most important part of the sport. And those who want to really take the Hewitt approach will reap the benefits.
 
It may have been 15 years since I first saw Lleyton play. The intensity and no excuse attitude, combined with a personality to match his game style, an ability to stretch a lead, and his returns of serve have always been tremendous assets, and are the reasons why he has been successful for so long. As mentioned, Lleyton has a relatively simple style of play, and by applying the above simple lessons learned from him, you will become a better player. All of these lessons were all clearly evident in his early years as a professional.
 
After battling with injuries for the past few years, it was nice to see Lleyton regain some good form and make the final of the Hall of Fame championships at Rhode Island this past July . He first appeared in that event in 1998. And he is assured of a place there in the Hall of Fame when his career is finished. 

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Tom Downs' article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

Tom Downs

Tom has and extensive coaching background, and has been a member of the Institute team for several years. He has served as our Head Staff Professional, and is currently the Traveling Coach for Institute players. He has traveled with several of our Tour players including Laura Granville and Carly Gullickson, who won the US Open Mixed Doubles title in 2009.

Tom has worked with junior and other professional players, including Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs, at all 4 Grand Slam events, as well as other major tournaments around the world. Tom graduated from the University of South Florida in 2005 with a degree in communications. As a successful junior player, Tom represented Australia, and was consistently ranked in the top 10 in all age groups in Australia. He played college tennis at South Carolina State University and was a member of their conference championship team in 2004.