I am relieved that Marat Safin won the Aussie Open. After losing two finals, it just seemed right. He is a player who likes a beer or 10, likes the ladies and, if he put his mind to it, should have a very tidy career of 5-8 slams or so, perhaps on the level of Becker or Lendl. But he won’t. <br />
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Why? Because he gets frustrated. I can’t ever see him winning the French as some little clay-courter will piss him off, and he always winges about the grass of Wimbledon. So that leaves the Australian and US Opens. A max of 2 per year. And there are several other players who target those titles as surfaces that suit their games – Federer, Hewitt, Roddick et al.<br />
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Hewitt may well win his home slam one day, and he has many years to do so. I would guess that he has almost given up on the French, but will certainly contend the other 3 titles. That’s if he isn’t hospitalised by his fellow players. <br />
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OK, a bit of a joke there, but Hewitt is really getting under some players skin. Yet, is this new? Weren’t Connors and McEnroe even worse? All players tend to have the psych-out tools. Becker had that big-man walk. Sampras would prowl around like a big moody panther, much like Federer does now. Lendl was like the terminator. Agassi has changed from brash upstart to the destroyer of serves to elder statesman, but it’s all an act. Hewitt has little shit writ large over him, that’s his thing. Live with it.