“I had to play Rafa in the round of 16, and normally you’d be playing him in quarter, semi or finals of a Grand Slam,” Hewitt says. “That was a day match that went the distance – five sets as well – so I felt like I was playing all these massive matches and ended up in the final.”
It’s not the final, however, that stands out most in Hewitt’s mind. It’s the match before that against Roddick, which commentators at the time succinctly summarised.
“Fourteen hours on court before tonight,” they said. “We wondered was there going to be enough energy in the tank. He answered that loudly and without question.”
Earlier, against a young Nadal, Hewitt had felt physically stronger than his opponent by the fourth…