Lleyton Hewitt receives Queen's wild card

Lleyton Hewitt receives Queen’s wild card

Lleyton Hewitt has been granted a wild card for the Aegon Championships at Queen’s in what is set to be his last grass court season in what has been a spectacular career. Now 33 years old, Hewitt is fighting to maintain his place at in the Top 100, but now has the assurance of a place at the Queen’s club.

Hewitt’s fighting qualities are now no longer sufficient to gain him the wins he needs

Currently ranked at

world number 89

, Hewitt has won the event 4 times previously and has always been a strong performer on grass. One of his two Grand Slam titles came on the green grass of Wimbledon back in 2002, as his strong movement and potent backhand slice helped him to succeed.

2015 So Far

Aug 27, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) celebrates a winner against Tomas Berdych (CZE) on Ashe Stadium court on day three of the 2014 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

2015 has been a difficult year so far for Hewitt, struggling to get going in the stretch of tournaments played at his home nation, Australia. A comprehensive straight sets loss to fellow Australian Sam Groth in the opening round of the Brisbane 250 was an ominous start competitive action.

He was was benefactor of a kind opening round draw in his penultimate Australian Open, dispatching 187 ranked Ze Zhang in four sets. However, the fairytale was to come to an abrupt end as Benjamin Becker the villain, knocking the home favourite out in a five set epic.

Hewitt’s failure to capitalise on being two sets up in the second round encounter was particularly telling and perhaps served to confirm that his days at the top of the game are numbered. His fighting qualities are now no longer sufficient to gain him the wins he needs.

Other Queen’s Entrants

The other main news coming out of Queen’s in terms of the playing field is that former champions Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov have confirmed their appearances at the iconic event. Dimitrov was last years champion and has found memories of the tournament that gave him his first entry into an ATP tour event with a wildcard as a youngster.

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Both men will enjoy the prospect of a higher number of rankings points being available this year at Queen’s. The tournament was formerly an ATP 250 event, but now has ATP 500 billing, increasing the number of points on offer in the grass court season.

Halle, the tournament in Germany which is played simultaneously to Queen’s, has received the same boost and it is welcome modification to the tour that felt that the grass court season was not in line with the rest of the year.

Often the events prior to Wimbledon are seen as a warm-up to help the transition of players from clay onto grass after the French Open, when in reality they are fantastic tournaments in their own right. It will be interesting to follow which players enter the draws for both Queen’s and Halle now that the points offering have doubled.

Next: Will Stan Wawrinka be a one slam wonder?

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