TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - If there was ever a tennis match that was going to be a fight to death it would probably be between the Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt. Perhaps more than any other players on the ATP Tour, Hewitt and Nadal have constructed careers around the relentless fighting spirit that has come to characterise their game and on Saturday the two stared across the net at each other in a second-round clash at the Sony Open in Miami, as cited in The Guardian.
If the two had come together in their primes, the 27-year-old Spaniard and the 33-year-old Australian might have produced a rivalry as electric as Nadal and Roger Federer's. But on Saturday it was Nadal, a champion at his peak, pounding his way to a one-sided 6-1, 6-3 win over a brawler whose best fights are in the past.
While Nadal has won 62 titles, including 13 grand slams and 26 Masters series events, a tournament victory on the Miami hardcourts is not among them and, while he was happy to offer Hewitt plenty of respect, he was not about to show the former world No1 any mercy.
"No I cannot feel that way [sorry] for him," said Nadal, a three-times Miami finalist. "I am here to try my best. I know how dangerous Lleyton is and I admire him so much. He's a great example for me, he keeps playing with passion and love for the game and that is a great example for the kids too."
THE GUARDIAN