ATP: Next, keep going – Lleyton Hewitt can’t let go of tournament tennis

Next stop Newport: Lleyton Hewitt, actually a tennis pensioner, starts his next comeback, again at the side of an Australian countryman.

One more goes. And then maybe another one. Actually, Lleyton Hewitt wanted to concentrate on his tasks as Davis Cup team boss, saying goodbye to active tennis. Now, however, Alexander Zverev and Co. made sure at the beginning of the year in Brisbane that the Australian national team gets a longer break for the time being. And I won’t be able to do it again until September. Rather, it must: In Graz, it is a matter of remaining in the world group against Austria.

So that he won’t get bored until then, Hewitt takes a close look at his candidates. Very close. In the London Queen´s Club “Rusty” competed with Nick Kyrgios at his side in the double, next week in Newport Jordan Thompson will receive this honour. On grass, the surface on which Lleyton Hewitt celebrated his greatest success in Wimbledon in 2002. In the final against the Argentinian David Nalbandian.

“When you retire, that pension takes a hell of a long time,” Hewitt said a few days ago. “So as long as my body’s still playing and I can mentally pull myself together to train and stay in shape, I might as well go out and keep trying.”

Double partner Thompson could be up against Austria. Only Nick Kyrgios should be seeded – but also at the Australian number one there are question marks behind a performance in Graz. After all, Dominic Thiem and Co. are waiting at a time that could not be worse from a logistical point of view: after the US Open in New York City. And before the Laver Cup in Chicago.