Sportsperson

Hewitt was born into a sporting family and began playing tennis at a young age. His parents engaged a personal coach for him when he was just six years old. In 1997, Hewitt qualified for the Australian Open the youngest player ever to do so and the following year he went professional, winning his first professional tournament within a year. Hewitt debuted in the Australian Davis Cup team in 1999.

Hewitt won his first Grand Slam championship in 2001, beating Pete Sampras in the final of the US Open. At the end of the year he became the youngest player ever to achieve number one world ranking, aged 20 years and 8 months. In 2002 Hewitt won Wimbledon, becoming the first Australian to take the title since Pat Cash in 1987. At the end of the year he was only the fourth player to be ranked number one in the world for every week during the year. In 2003 Hewitt was named the Young Australian of the Year and Vogue/GQ (Australia) Sportsman of the Year.

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1998: Turned professional; won first professional tournament, the Adelaide International, defeating Andre Agassi in the semifinals

1999: Debuted in Australian Davis Cup team

2001: Won first Grand Slam singles championship; beat Pete Sampras in the final of the US Open

2001: Finished year as youngest player (20 years, 8 months) to achieve number one ranking in history of ATP Rankings (since 1973)

2002: Won Wimbledon; first Australian to win tournament since Pat Cash in 1987

2002: Became fourth player to rank world number one for every week during calendar year (others Connors, Lendl and Sampras)

26 January 2003: Named Young Australian of the Year

The Original Lleyton Hewitt Website