Destiny

Hewitt is surely meant to do great things like his father, and he keeps proving it more and more.

Huge win for Hewitt against Giron in the first round. It’s kind of his first big performance if you set aside his two qualifying wins that came on retirements, even though he was already playing at a very high level. The young Australian is already incredibly solid from the baseline: he doesn’t make errors, he’s got a good forehand he can speed up. Even if his serve isn’t that great yet for the moment, he didn’t face a single break point in the first round. His attitude was also pretty wild; it felt like he was the young local guy at home, firing up the crowd and going crazy after every point he won. One thing’s for sure, tomorrow he’s going to believe in his chances for two reasons. First, because it’s in his blood. The second reason is that he knows his opponent very well; that obviously helps.

Being Hewitt’s son means you get to train with and be around the best Australian players from a very young age. As young Hewitt says himself, he knows De Minaur inside out and almost sees him as a brother. He also mentions that they’ve already spent Christmas together, and it’s just so useful to have already played him and practiced with De Minaur, so you don’t see him as some unreachable player or someone you’re going to respect too much. On the contrary, he already knows what to expect and is going to play his tennis at full throttle.

On De Minaur’s side, the first round was incredibly bad, except maybe the third set which was a bit better. At the same time, it’s true that the conditions weren’t easy and he was facing a really unpleasant match-up for him, on top of having quite a bit of pressure as he started his title defense. I want to cut him some slack for all those reasons, because I think they did play a part, and in the end he got through. But on the other hand, it’s just his overall level that hasn’t been good for months now, and his attitude as well. To be fair, his attitude was actually good today, but apart from that, I saw a typical De Minaur of what we’ve been getting this year: someone who hits a lot of double faults, who is unusually erratic from the baseline, even though that’s supposed to be his strength, and basically a player who doesn’t scare anyone anymore. Now he’s up and running, he’s the defending champion, he’s got tons of experience, and he also knows what to expect playing Hewitt, because it works both ways. Playing some unknown young guy who’s on fire, that you don’t know, is tough. This time, though, De Minaur knows him and knows how to play him too.