Despite opposition from detractors, Tennis Australia chief Geoff Pollard was re-elected for another one-year term. It's safe to say Lleyton Hewitt wasn't spending his spare time stuffing the ballot box on Pollard's behalf.
Questioning the TA's leadership in the midst of a slide that has seen Australia place just two men in the top 100 — himself and 83rd-ranked Peter Luczak — the 20th-ranked Hewitt said promoting progress in Australia must start with a change at the top of the TA.
"For me, the only way forward right at the moment is change and you have to start with change at the top," Hewitt told Macquarie radio in comments published by the AFP. "They have got to open their eyes now and have a good look at themselves and see where the sport is going."
Pollard, who has held the head post since 1989, defeated Paul McNamee in a vote of state delegates to win another year in office. A devoted Davis Cup competitor who has made no secret about his disgust over the decline of men's tennis in Australia, which was once a world super power. There may be a bit of home in the form of 16-year-old Bernard Tomic, who became the first junior since Andy Roddick in 2000 to win both the Australian Open and US Open junior championships. Hewitt suggested Pollard must be accountable for the nation's results over the next year.
"Hopefully by me coming out and voicing my opinion, at least Tennis Australia is going to be put on notice and people are actually going to be looking at the results that we have over the next year," Hewitt said. "We need someone who is strong ... to make the decisions in the best interest of our sport and that starts with the president of the federation."
It was the latest direction challenge Hewitt has issued to Pollard.
When the Australian Open was staged on Rebound Ace, Hewitt spared little criticism in taking the TA to task for the speed of the court. A classic counter-puncher who plays off his opponent's pace, Hewitt found that navigating the Australian Open draw while playing on the slower, stickier Rebound Ace surface was about as easy as Spiderman scaling a skyscraper only to find it had been coated with fly paper.
"We've got our own Grand Slam here and if we're not looking after the Australian Open, then we're not doing the right thing by Australian tennis," Hewitt said at a January, 2005 press conference in his hometown of Adelaide prior to his 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over former Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clement. "Maybe that's a huge problem with our mind set and that's why we don't have players coming through. I thought I might have had a little bit of pull after being No. 1 in the world for two years and winning a couple of Slams. But obviously not that much. I'm baffled by the whole thing and I've had a gutful of it, to tell you the truth."
The 2005 Australian Open runner-up to Marat Safin, Hewitt has posted his worst Grand Slam results at the major he most desperately wants to win.
Hewitt has failed to surpass the fourth round in 12 of his 13 career appearances in his home major and owns a 24-13 record Down Under, which is his worst career mark in any of the four majors.
"The court? It's not my favorite," Hewitt said of the Rebound Ace surface, which the TA eventually abandoned. "At the end of the day, if I've got to win the Australian Open on cow shit, I'll do my best to do it. And I'll go out there and do everything in my power to do that."
Hewitt is 26-10 at Roland Garros with a pair of quarterfinal appearances; the 2002 Wimbledon winner owns a 35-10 record at the All England Cub where he beat Juan Martin del Potro en route to the quarterfinals in July and the 2001 U.S. Open champion has compiled a 41-9 record with four trips to the final four in his career appearances at Flushing Meadows.
