Big dates keep Lleyton Hewitt bubbling

Only Roger Federer has won more grass-court titles and matches than Lleyton Hewitt, but the 32-year-old Australian retains his enthusiasm for the sport.

“I still enjoy the big tournaments, obviously Wimbledon, the Australian Open, two of my favourite tournaments,” Hewitt (above) said. “The Grand Slams and Davis Cup are still what I play for.”

The focus this week for the world No82 is the Aegon Championships here at Queen’s Club, where he has been a champion four times. Hewitt successfully negotiated his first-round match yesterday, beating Michael Russell, of the United States, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in his first grass-court match of the year. Today, however, he faces a much tougher test against Grigor Dimitrov, the world No28.

Hewitt will be grateful that he is meeting the 22-year-old Bulgarian with one match already under his belt. “The first one on grass is obviously always tough,” Hewitt said. “I felt I could see the ball really well in practice going into it but the courts are a little bit different out there at the moment. It’s a bit slippery on the foot and you probably don’t have quite 100 per cent [confidence] in your footing.”

The former world No1 said Queen’s was another of his favourite events. “Most times it’s taken pretty good players to beat me here,” he said.

That would be a fair description of his next opponent. Dimitrov has made big strides this year, having reached his first final in Brisbane and beaten Novak Djokovic in Madrid.