Who is hewitts coach

Tennis is now unrecognisable from the sport Hopman dominated for two decades with a generation of champions that doubles as a roll call of all-time greats.

Wave after wave of champions dominating at Davis Cup and grand slam level until they joined the professional ranks, when Hopman would scour the countryside and pull more serve-volleying rabbits from his wide-brimmed hat. Hopman's teams travelled the world together, were subject to the Old Fox's curfews and fined if they didn't use their manners at the dinner table.

Can you imagine Nick Kyrgios copping a penalty for talking with his mouth full? Or, for the matter, falling for Hopman's famous but now seemingly quaint mind games such as letting Mal Anderson win at poker the night before a Wimbledon final to boost his confidence? In this era of individuals travelling with their vast courtside entourages of coaches, agents, trainers, family and friends — "my team" as they refer to them now — the role of Davis Cup captain has been vastly diminished.

Yet as Hewitt oversees the progress of the exciting year-old Alex de Minaur and wins praise for his positive influence on the once seemingly terminally distracted and uninterested Kyrgios, it is evident he has been infused with Hopman's wily coaching DNA. Former Davis Cup player and now tennis commentator Geoff Masters believes that process began in when the then year-old Hewitt was called up to replace Mark Philippoussis for a vital second round tie in the US and beat the highly-ranked Todd Martin in his first match.

So it doesn't surprise me he bring that to younger players now. American Jack Kramer, a champion player who became a strong advocate and promoter of professional tennis, and thus an enemy of the arch-amateur Hopman, once wrote disparagingly of the Australian: "He had no children, no hobbies and tennis was everything to him.

Hewitt has benefited vastly from the professional era and son Cruz now sits near him at De Minaur's matches. But in the way he can precisely recall points from long ago matches and recite the strengths and weaknesses of the most obscure opponent, Hewitt shares Hopman's obsessive streak. For the diminutive by tennis standards Hewitt, this characteristic was necessary to cut larger and more powerful opponents down to size.

But it is also an asset when imparting his knowledge to youngsters such as De Minaur and Kyrgios. Hewitt's role with De Minaur comes at close quarters with his agent also managing the young Australian. His influence on the self-consciously rebellious Kyrgios stems from the Canberran's craving for a strong team environment. In Kyrgios left a Davis Cup tie in Darwin seemingly disillusioned after he had been replaced in the singles rubbers by journeyman Sam Groth.

Yet, after his time with Hewitt, Kyrgios now says winning the Davis Cup is more important to him than winning a first grand slam title. He also won the US open in and the Wimbledon Championships. In Lleyton announced his retirement from the professional game. This was the second time that he interrupted his retirement since playing at the Australian Open earlier in January. There was also a brief interlude in March when he travelled to America and teamed up with John Peers for the Davis Cup.

And with his new role as Davis Cup captain, Lleyton is finding himself pretty busy with the responsibilities that come with it. Hewitt is spending a vast amount of his time coaching the new Australian future champions and is an ever present figure courtside at Grand Slam matches of his young charges.

The following day, Rasheed drove to Hewitt's West Lakes home and resigned. Since Hewitt appointed new coach Tony Roche in August, there has been talk that the two-time grand slam champion's game has possessed more aggression. But Rasheed — for the moment — does not believe that Hewitt's game has varied in any way. So another three to six months need to go by before you can gauge if there will be change. But at the moment, I can see nothing new about his game. A third South Australian, Mark Woodforde, disagrees, claiming that the seeds of what will flourish when fertilised by match play later in the season already are visible.

Woodforde believes court time is all Hewitt lacks, but that there are already signs of progress, and an acceptance that risk can bring greater reward.