At twenty years old, Lleyton Hewitt AM (b. 1981) was the youngest male tennis player ever to be ranked world number one. When he retired in 2016, he had won two Grand Slam titles, 30 singles titles and three doubles titles. Born in Adelaide, Hewitt played AFL until he was thirteen, when he decided to pursue tennis. He began his professional tennis career in 1998, winning the Next Generation Adelaide International at seventeen. World number one for 80 weeks between 2001 and 2003, Hewitt's many victories include the US Open (2001) and Wimbledon (2002), as well as the 2000 US Open men's double titles. He was a member of Australia's winning Davis Cup teams in 1999 and 2003, won back-to-back Tennis Masters Cup titles in 2001 and 2002, and won the Queen’s Club tournament in London four times. Hewitt also competed at three Olympic Games. Most Popular South Australian in 2001, he was South Australian Young Australian of the Year in 2002 and Young Australian of the Year in 2003. Renowned as a fighter and a dogged self-motivator on court, Hewitt retained an enviable world tennis ranking despite contending with various injuries, and was still in the top 100 players worldwide in 2011 and again in 2013. He retired from the Grand Slam circuit in 2016, but has since made various comebacks and wildcard appearances, including playing doubles alongside Jordan Thompson in the Adelaide International and Australian Open in 2020. Hewitt was one of the commentators for the 2021 Australian Open.
