They always send the best to deal with Lleyton

Novak Djokovic in the fourth round may have been a hope for Hewitt when the draw was released, but for it to come to fruition did take most by surprise.  It says much about the character and fighting spirit of the Australian, but we must not forget that here is a tennis player that when fit has not lost any of his innate talent, and only as recently as 2010 in Halle, he defeated Roger Federer.

He had chances last year to defeat another Swiss top 20 player Wawrinka in Davis Cup, plus gave Roger a decent match in the same tie.  Hewitt did not reach the fourth round simply because he is a trier.  He is ranked where he is in the world purely because he didn't play enough tennis.

However, to think of him beating the world number one on Rod Laver Arena would be irrational - romantic yes, but unsound.

Djokovic's losses were few last year, most coming right at the end when he and his body had basically shut off for Christmas.  He had done all the damage when it mattered, including winning the Aus Open and now he was in the process of repeating that victory in 2012.  Lleyton may be the first serious test for the Serbian star.

Novak started as a number one should - winners all over the place and several classes above where Lleyton was studying.  Hewitt's Achilles heel was his first serve - he couldn't find one to save himself.  The second serve was just chicken feed for the great returner which is Djokovic.  Other areas where Novak prevailed, which comprised all components of the game if I recall correctly, were largely out of Lleyton's control.  When the best player is in the mood to destroy, you just need to sit back, watch the carnage and once it's over clean up the mess and try again in the next stanza.

Hewitt did have a pleasurable moment - he broke the Djokovic serve once.  Not quite sufficient to stack up against the 4 times his was shattered, but a tiny respite even so.  The backhand for mine was the MVP of the Djokovic team of tennis shots for set one which concluded 6-1 in his favour.

Set two trended much the same as its predecessor in that Hewitt lost most of his serves and Djokovic one of his.  The noticeable change came with the way Lleyton began to contest rallies far more effectively, forcing Djokovic to play more shots to win points and not allowing the easy winners to flow.  Even the first serves appeared a lot more often.  The set went to Novak 6-3 though and it would have been foolish to bet against a straight sets result.

After Novak had won the first three games of the third set, people started gathering their things together for the trip home.  Lleyton wanted to party so insisted we stay on for another round of drinks.  Feeling sorry for the guy, we hung around, while he organised the next shout.  It was Novak's and he was extremely generous, but bringing back the drinks he lost balance and dropped the serve he had been holding up till now.

Hewitt served his way back into the set to level at 3-3.  The crowd's vocalising became a little louder when this occurred.  Djokovic had changed roles now and played the hunted - Hewitt had hopped back a few years to when he drove the agenda regularly in matches played.  Serving second did not phase the Australian - he thrived on the pressure.  Novak however, wilted in the ninth game where the Australian converted another break point to lead 5-4 and serve for the set.  Remarkable.

We did need a fourth set once Lleyton put the finishing touches to the 6-4 third set, and there were questions asked about his capacity to go five sets.  Maybe a little too optimistic, but even four sets was better than we realistically had in mind.

Djokovic served first in the fourth and the two matched each other until 2-3 on Hewitt's serve.  The world number one exerted his will and skill right here to break Hewitt's serve and give himself the freedom to run out the match.   Novak in the fourth set had returned to some if not all of the first set brilliance and Hewitt could not quite go with him.

Djokovic through to a quarter final with Ferrer winning 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3.  Hewitt a fine display considering the small amount of tennis played over the past 12-18 months.