Old warrior Lleyton Hewitt has bid an emotional farewell to Wimbledon after losing a five-set thriller to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the first round overnight.
Hewitt is embarking on a prolonged goodbye tour before retiring after next year’s Australian Open and he was hoping for one last hurrah on his 17th and final visit to the All England Club.
The 34-year-old Australian pushed the match to a fifth set and saved three match points in the gruelling four hour match, pledging he gave it his all.
• Kyrgios wastes no time progressing at Wimbledon
• Local footy to Wimbledon: the Sam Groth story
• Our biggest Wimbledon contingent in 20 years
“I was always going to leave it all out there, everything I had in the tank. I certainly did that,” Hewitt said.
“I didn’t leave any stone unturned preparing. In the end, obviously it’s disappointing to lose.
Hewitt gave ‘everything he had in the tank’. Photo: Getty
“I would have loved to have played Novak [Djokovic] in the next round. But Jarkko is a tough competitor.”
Hewitt said it had taken a while to sink in that he had played his last match at Wimbledon, where he was champion in 2002.
“You try and suck it in as much as possible at the end of the match and that,” he said.
“It never entered my mind that this could be the last time you serve or play a game in the Championships.
“So it’s kind of a strange feeling in a lot of ways.”
Hewitt, a former world number one as well as a winner of the 2001 US Open, has spent the latter part of his career battling to overcome a series of debilitating injuries, including having a metal plate inserted into the toe of his left foot.
His ranking has slipped to 118 as a result and his poor form coming into Wimbledon — six defeats in seven matches in 2015 — suggested he was limping towards his career finish line.
His last Grand Slam quarter-final appearance came at Wimbledon in 2009 and he has not been beyond the second round in his past four visits.
But granted a wildcard by nostalgic Wimbledon chiefs, Hewitt — who made his All England Club debut in 1999 — must have fancied his chances against world number 91 Nieminen, who had lost all five of his previous meetings with the Australian.
Three times Hewitt enjoyed a service break in the epic deciding set only to falter and effectively pass the baton to Kyrgios, Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis after a storied 17-year professional career.
The 34-year-old plans to retire after making a record 20th success Australian Open appearance next January and will likely play only Davis Cup before the Melbourne Park major.