012905

I'm posting mainly to tell you about some of my reflections on the
recent Aussie Open tennis final. I've been a long-time and devoted
Lleyton Hewitt fan. I first noticed him in the youth Wimbledon
tournament where he trounced a friend of mine.
The tennis press has never given him his due. When he's winning
majors, they have to give him some lip service but there's something
they intensely dislike about him. I think most of it is nothing but his
natural nobility. This society has a serious probem with anything noble
or beautiful. His "C'Mon!" is just a great cry of elan vital. But he
does let his temper take him too far sometimes. He wasted valuable
focus in the match in order to stare down the umpire over a call which,
as the TV people gleefully demonstrated, was clearly correct.
But I greatly sympathized with Hewitt as he was defeated by a player
much more powerful than himself. I'll bet Hewitt is a thoughtful guy.
When he finds the time, I'll bet he enjoys art and literature. At any
rate, some of his tennis interviews are a kind of literature. It must
have been a great ordeal for such a sensitive spirit to push himself to
such virtuosity in a brute sport.