Lleyton Glynn Hewitt was born on February 24th 1981 in Adelaide, Australia. He played on the Australian Rules Football until age 13, when he decided to pursue a career in tennis. While in the juniors, he was ranked #1 in the Aussie under-18 division in 1996. He soon started to play professional tennis, and officially turned pro in 1997. Since then Lleyton has captured an impressive number of titles. In 2001, he became the youngest in the history of ATP Rankings, and the only Aussie ever, to be #1-ranked in the ATP Rankings (he was 20 years old). His greatest victory has been the US Open title he claimed in 2001. Over the past years, Lleyton has broken so many records, and defeated so many opponents, that he has clearly shown he had the tenacity, the perseverance and the talent to be the #1 player in the world.