He is the player Lleyton Hewitt said had the ‘perfect’ game to win Wimbledon but he never ended up reaching the final

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Lleyton Hewitt had a very decent career as a professional tennis player but perhaps should have more to show for it.

The Australian claimed two Grand Slam crowns winning the US Open in 2001 and following that up by winning Wimbledon in 2002.

Hewitt was the world number one in November 2001 and in total, he amassed 30 career singles titles.

The 44-year-old is the Davis Cup captain for Australia these days and Hewitt watched Alex de Minaur from courtside at the Australian Open in January.

Hewitt always wore his heart on his sleeve as a player and in 2002 he identified a player who had the perfect game to win the main prize at Wimbledon.

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Lleyton Hewitt said Tim Henman had the perfect game to win Wimbledon

One of the best performances of Hewitt’s entire career came in the semi-finals at Wimbledon against Henman in 2002.

Once again the British media had hyped this edition of Wimbledon up as the one where it would all click into place for Henman.

The Great British number one at the time, Henman had come through two gruelling matches with Wayne Ferreira and Swiss player Michael Kratochvil, winning both in five sets.

He then beat Andre Sa in four in the last eight to set up a date with number one seed Hewitt with Centre Court eagerly anticipating the day that Henman would finally reach the final.

Naturally, that didn’t transpire. Hewitt flexed his title credentials with a dominant 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 victory and afterwards, he was asked if Henman would ever get over the line and lift the title.

He told the press: “You know, he’s got the perfect game to win Wimbledon. You know, in the next few years, I think even more so just because there’s going to be less and less typical “serve and volley” kind of players like Tim plays.

“I think that’s still an advantage for him, that he plays that kind of way, because there’s so few players that play against that. So the guys come on a grass court, a lot of them think that they can’t beat a Tim Henman or a Patrick Rafter or Pete Sampras just because they got that typical grass court game.

“You know, it’s got to hurt for him to make another semifinal, but it’s an incredible run what he’s had, you know, the last four or five years here.”

Henman’s cruel Wimbledon record

It’s hard to fathom how Henman never reached a Wimbledon final and perhaps the year previous in 2001 knocked a lot out of him.

On that occasion, he looked well on course to reach the final but lost a rain-impacted semi against Goran Ivanisevic who would go on and win the title.

Hewitt was a man on a mission in 2002 and clearly, he was desperate to take the main prize back to Australia with him given how brilliant he was in that tournament.

Henman reached four Wimbledon semi-finals during his career and he must look back on his days as a player with a tinge of sadness that he never reached a Grand Slam final.