Lleyton Hewitt’s first major title run at the 2001 US Open cemented his status as one of the fiercest competitors in tennis. That triumph 25 years ago perfectly captured everything that made the Australian special.
Hewitt, one of 29 members in the ATP No. 1 Club, was the equivalent of a warrior, a relentless heavyweight boxer and a tenacious bulldog in the heat of a fight. From the quarter-finals onward, Hewitt dispatched three consecutive members of the exclusive ATP No. 1 Club, a group that the Aussie would join in November later that year.
Aged 20 at the time of his victory in New York, Hewitt was too young to legally celebrate with a beer in the United States, he joked afterward.
“It hurts when back in Australia I can have [a beer] a couple of years ago, and I can't still have one here,” Hewitt said at the time, cracking a laugh.
When Hewitt reached the pinnacle of the PIF ATP Rankings, he became the youngest player to reach the top spot, a record that Carlos Alcaraz broke in 2022. Hewitt’s rise from a promising junior to a global superstar happened quickly.
“I still have the junior photo on the front of my badge here,” Hewitt said after winning the US Open title. “It wasn't that long ago when I didn't talk to any [media]. No one was out there watching. Now, in front of everyone, I have the world's TV cameras on me, in front of me.”
Hewitt’s path to his first major crown was anything but easy, a fitting journey for the ultimate outwork, outhustle kind of player nicknamed ‘Rusty’. He survived a five-set quarter-final against home favourite Andy Roddick, who at the time was World No. 18 and would eventually become No. 1 in 2003.
That hard-fought victory only fuelled Hewitt. In the semi-finals, he dropped just five games in a one-hour, 23-minute rout of former No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
Then came a nervy night of sleep ahead of facing Pete Sampras. “It was very hard to eat too much,” Hewitt said. “I didn't really feel like eating or even having a bit of lunch and stuff.”
The American icon Sampras had four times won his home Slam across the 1990s, and again in 2002. But in 2001, it was Hewitt’s turn for glory. The fourth seed ousted Sampras 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-1 to win the hard-court major.
“I'm standing there and Pete's there holding up the runners-up plate. It just didn't quite click for me,” Hewitt reflected after his victory.
The Adelaide native delivered when the lights were bright, a theme that followed Hewitt throughout his illustrious career. His 2001 US Open triumph is remembered not only because he earned his first major trophy, but also as Hewitt’s defining statement of his ability to rise to the occasion against the sport’s best.
“It's something that you dream of doing — walking out there and playing in a Grand Slam final, playing that seventh match of two weeks,” Hewitt said.
Hewitt finished his career with 30 tour-level titles, including his 2002 Wimbledon triumph, which came less than 10 months after his New York milestone. He collected 616 tour-level match wins, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, and spent 80 total weeks as the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. Hewitt earned ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours in 2001 and 2002.
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