Q. You were happy enough with that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, it was good. Yeah, first set was pretty tough out there. I knew nothing about the guy, though, going into the match. It's always going to take a little bit of time to work him out. He's obviously got nothing to lose out there either, really trying to take it to me.

Once I got that first set under my belt, I felt like I could, yeah, get more and more confident. I got better as the match went on.

Q. How were you physically today? You said you still weren't a hundred percent after the first round. Do you still feel the ankle today or is it progressing well?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, the ankle's still not a hundred percent. But, you know, I'm getting through, doing all I need to right at the moment. You know, hopefully it picks up a bit.

But, you know, it's something that ‑‑ you know, I've played with pain before. This is just another case of it.

Q. What about the potential opponents, Karlovic and Hrbaty? What are your thoughts on them?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Tough. Both of them are tough players. But tough in different ways, both of them. You know, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

You know, obviously Hrbaty, he's a workhorse out there. He doesn't give you too many cheap points. He's extremely fit, going to run down a lot of balls. We've had some tough matches in the past. You know, I've been able to get through quite a lot of them. I've never played against him on clay, though, so... Yeah, he's definitely a tough player. Karlovic, he's serve‑dominated. You have to be returning well and making him play as many balls as possible.

Q. Players talk about confidence all the time, but not many people can actually say what it is or define what it is. I'm wondering if you could take a stab at it, how that translates on the court when you feel confident. Maybe it's easier to describe confidence by saying what it feels like not to be confident. When you're on the court, what does it mean?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, I think confidence comes when you don't have to think about a lot of things when you're out there. You're going out there and you know what you're going to do all the time, especially in pressure, tough situations. It's sort of like you're on autopilot a lot of the time. I guess, confidence is being Roger Federer in the last couple years. In situations, big points, that's when you back yourself, I guess.

You only get confidence from playing well and doing it in the match situations, in big matches. Yeah, I guess when you're not confident, then, yeah, you're probably thinking and trying to push a little bit more rather than going out there and sort of just being on autopilot and a little bit freer out there.

Q. Why do players lose it and then get it back?

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's probably a number of reasons. Obviously, you know, court surfaces. You know, there's a lot of different things for a tennis player, I guess. You know, if you get on a bit of a run, then confidence, you know, picks up. I guess it's like a ball going down a hill: it just keeps building more and more confidence as you keep winning. Sometimes it's tough, you know, if you've been struggling for a couple of weeks, to get that confidence back. Sometimes you got to win ugly just to get through, to get that momentum started again.

Q. Where would you say you are at the moment, this only being your third match back? Overall are you pretty satisfied at the level you're at at the moment?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I'm pretty happy at the moment. I'll still in the tournament. Coming in here, you know, a week ago I wasn't sure if I'd be able to play, so it's obviously good to be through to the third round. Haven't wasted a lot of energy so far, got matches under my belt. See what happens from here, though.

Q. Nick Bollettieri has written an article saying that throughout his career when he was a coach, he coached players from the sidelines during matches, using discreet signals to coach players. He says he feels it should be allowed. How much are you aware that players are coached from the sidelines? Do you feel it should be allowed?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't think it should be allowed. You know, that's the great thing about our sport: once you're out there, it's a matter of going out there and doing what you need to do against your opponent and working it out for yourself. A lot of guys in the past win matches because they're able to work out ways of beating their opponents on their own out there. I think that's one of the great things about our sport.

You know, I don't think that is a good thing to change in that way. Signals, you know, I know there's been times in the past where I'm sure coaches have been giving little signals or whatever at the back of the court. There's not a whole heap you can do about it. At the end of the day, their player still has to go out there and execute.

Yeah, obviously it's a slight advantage if they are getting some help because obviously a coach seeing from a different perspective of the match, as well. In the stands, when I watch other guys play, you can work out other things probably a little bit better than sometimes when you're actually out there as well.

Q. Considering what you're saying about coaching, that tennis is one of the few sports where it's not allowed during a match, is coaching overrated in tennis? Do you need a coach to be a great tennis player?

LLEYTON HEWITT: I don't know. Roger Federer hasn't. He's won quite a few Grand Slams. Yeah, I don't know. A coach for me, it's someone I've got to get along with extremely well. It's totally different having a coach in tennis compared to a coach on the football side where they've got to come together and get 20 egos together to play good football at the same time. Tennis, it's more of a mateship as well. That's where I feel with Roger, we're great mates, with tennis or without tennis. And that goes a long way for me.

For me, Roger does a lot more areas than just the tennis coach, as well. Fitness‑wise, motivation, a lot of different stuff that he brings to the table that helps me out. On my terms, he's not just a pure tennis coach. He's got a lot of areas. I feel that, you know, he helps me out in that way.

Q. Speaking of players that have been at the top of the sport, then have not been there, I'm thinking of Andy Roddick, you've been in the same boat. Can surface sort of change a player's season, turn it around? Thinking of Roddick going into the grass court season. He's struggled the first half of the year.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, absolutely, he's going to be ‑‑ let's put Roger obviously aside for favorites of Wimbledon. Andy is going to be in that next category with probably only a few handful of players with true chances to win Wimbledon.

Yeah, I definitely think for Andy's kind of game, surfaces do play a huge difference. He's obviously a lot more dangerous on a grass court or on a fast hard court such as the US Open compared to, you know, the clay courts of Europe.

For some of the other guys that have probably not so dominant serves, it probably doesn't matter quite as much. For a guy like Roddick, I think grass is a huge benefit for him.

Q. Can you look at what he's been going through and sort of sympathize with it? First big dip in his career.

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, uhm, I guess there's always going to come a time when you lose a couple of matches here and there. He's had a couple of niggling injuries. I know what that's like as well to play through. It's not easy. Especially when he's not playing on his favorite surface either. It sort of all comes together at the same time.

Yeah, in my mind he's still one of the best players to go to Queen's and Wimbledon the next few weeks, a guy to watch out for. Yeah, maybe he feels like he's got a point to prove, as well.

Q. A question about Australian tennis. You're the only guy to get through in your ranking. There's one in the women's. Is it a bit of a concern? The numbers of getting low. Is that a cyclical thing? How do you see it?

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's been a concern for a few years now. Nothing's going to change straightaway. You know, obviously Tennis Australia have got to try to work on things, put things in place for junior programs, which I believe is happening. You know, hopefully we start getting ‑‑ you got to start look at the 12, 13, 14‑year‑olds to start to come through now. Hopefully we got a few good ones coming through.

You know, it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to be a long process. Hopefully things are being put in place, though. We've definitely got the facilities, we've got the coaches in Australia. I'm sure we've got kids with a lot of talent, as well. Hopefully we can bring it all together.

Q. This surface particularly, more needs to be done clay court‑wise in Australia?

LLEYTON HEWITT: There's no doubt. We don't have any proper clay courts in Australia. Melbourne is close as we can get to clay, and it's really nothing like it. I think movement‑wise, it's easier to go from being a good clay court player in your junior days and adjust to hard court and grass than it is vice versa. I think clay is a great surface to learn all aspects of the game on, as well.

Q. How important is it for you to see Alicia Molik coming through to the next round? Does it give you additional boost to see her back in form?

LLEYTON HEWITT: It's great for her. Doesn't give me any more boost, I don't think, when I've got to worry about my own game. Alicia has been through a rough lot. Obviously, cracking into the top 10, playing great tennis at last year's Australian Open, getting struck down by an ear infection. Strange sort of setback, as well.

Alicia is a great girl. Hopefully she'll be able to get back right up there. Hopefully this is the start of things. You can't expect miracles straightaway. It could take her a little while to get back to where she was before she got ill.

Q. Nicolas Escude has announced he will retire. One of his best performances was to beat you in '91 during the Davis Cup in Melbourne. How do you remember this match? What did you know of the guy when you played him?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, he's a very talented Frenchman, obviously. There's a lot of talented Frenchmen around. On grass, he was probably one of the best. I'd lost to him a year or so I think before that. Actually, I think it was that year at Wimbledon as well in five sets. We had a couple of tough matches on grass in big occasions.

But, you know, he was definitely the hero of that tie in Melbourne. He played extremely well in both his single matches. He's obviously had a tough run with injuries, as well, over the last couple of years.

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