Like a recurring nightmare, tennis giant Ivo Karlovic and his terrifying serve have returned to haunt Lleyton Hewitt and leave his Wimbledon preparation in tatters.
The 2.08-metre Croatian unleashed a ridiculous 22 aces in nine service games to send a bewildered Hewitt out of the Wimbledon lead-up event at Queen's in the opening round.
The demoralising loss came nine years after Hewitt declared Karlovic was "serving out of a tree" when he consigned the South Australian to a place in the history books as the first defending champion ever eliminated in the opening round at Wimbledon.
Hewitt was equally exasperated on Tuesday after Karlovic rocketed down four consecutive aces in the first game alone and never let-up in the 6-3 6-2 pounding.
"It's not really a tennis match in some ways when you're playing against a guy like that," Hewitt said.
"The rallies and the skill in the other form of the game is totally out of your control."
The defeat left Hewitt desperately short of match practice less than a fortnight out from the start of the grasscourt major.
The former world No.1's only other competitive outing since undergoing career-saving toe surgery in February was a first-round French Open loss on clay last month.
Hewitt admitted it was impossible to know where his game was at after Karlovic wiped him off the court in barely an hour.
"It doesn't give you a chance to do a lot of things," he said.
"You can't assess where you're at, at the moment. I can't assess my movement. So it's just a frustrating day, all up.
"There were plenty of better draws for me to get some matches under my belt."
The 31-year-old dropped out of the world's top 200 this week for the first time in his distinguished career and had to rely on a wildcard - which he received two hours before playing Karlovic - to confirm his Wimbledon entry.
With only a couple of exhibition matches on his schedule next week, Hewitt will use his exclusive membership to the All England Club to hone his grasscourt game before the tournament's June 25 start.
"I have been using it the last two weeks," he said.
"It works well for me. I can sit in there and have a cup of tea with all the other members.
"It's always nice being around the place and practising there and I'm fortunate enough I can walk in there as a member. Yeah, it's the best tournament there is.
"If there's one place you feel like things can open up for you, it's probably there for me."
While Hewitt is out, fellow Australian Matthew Ebden enjoyed a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 first-round Queen's win over German Matthias Bachinger and next faces Croatian sixth seed Marin Cilic.
Source: wwos.ninemsn.com.au
Hewitt looks forward to Wimbledon - espnstar.com
Lleyton Hewitt turned his attention to Wimbledon after being knocked out of this year's AEGON Championships at Queen's by Ivo Karlovic on Tuesday.
Hewitt underwent major foot surgery last month in a bid to prolong his career and was looking to help his recovery by having a good run at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in west London.
The former SW19 champion was handed a tough draw against 6ft 10in Karlovic, however, and the Croatian went on to record an easy 6-3 6-2 win.
Hewitt admitted he was disappointed to have drawn Karlovic, who sent down 22 aces in nine service games en route to victory, but his mood improved after hearing he had been granted a wild card by the All England Club for Wimbledon afterwards.
"It's not really a tennis match in some ways when you're playing against a guy like Karlovic," the 31-year-old said.
"It was just one of those days today [Tuesday], but I am excited about Wimbledon now.
"After the surgery Wimbledon was always the focus. It's the best tournament there is."
Hewitt has had struggled with injury for a large part of the 10 years that have passed since he won Wimbledon and Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal seem a class apart from the rest of the field on all surfaces, but Hewitt is confident he can ruffle a few feathers at Wimbledon next month.
He said: "It would have been nice to get a couple of matches under my belt, but, if there's one place you feel like things can open up for you, it's probably there for me.
"Obviously the top few guys are way above everyone else right at the moment, but if you can put yourself in a moment to go out there - and I still feel like if I'm hitting the ball as well as I can be and moving well - then I can still put some pressure on a lot of the guys in the draw."
In Tuesday's other action at Queen's, seeds Kevin Anderson, Marcos Baghdatis and Alex Bogomolov went through after their wins over James Ward, Frederico Gil and Martin Klizan.
Matthew Ebden set up a second-round tie against sixth seed Marin Cilic after beating Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 and Edouard Roger-Vasselin defeated Evgeny Korolev to progress to the last 32, where he will meet Andy Roddick.
Top seed Andy Murray faces Nicolas Mahut in round two after the Frenchman's win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Tuesday while second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will come up against Scotland's Jamie Baker on Wednesday.
America's Ryan Sweeting overcame Dmitry Tursunov to set up a second round clash against third seed Janko Tipsarevic.
Steve Darcis from Belgium beat Ruban Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 (7/2) 7-5 to deny the Spaniard a second-round clash against compatriot Feliciano Lopez and Ernests Gulbis lost to Simone Bolelli, who now faces fifth seed Gilles Simon in the last 32.
Tenth seed David Nalbandian was in danger of an early exit to Vasek Pospisil after he lost the first set to the Canadian in the last singles match on centre court.
Source: www.espnstar.com
Green light for Newhaven Asda plan divides opinion - Lewes Today
AN ERROR of historic proportions was how MP Norman Baker chose to describe the decision to grant planning permission for 190 homes and an Asda in Newhaven.
The MP warned that Lewes District Council planning committee approving the Eastside Asda scheme from developers Avalon, but refusing the Railway Quay Tesco scheme from developers Arrowcroft, would have serious long-term consequences for the town.
The Eastside scheme divided opinion on the planning committee, where it was voted through by a 6 to 5 majority on Wednesday May 23.
Since then the move has prompted a flurry of letters to the Sussex Express, outlining their differing views on the decision, from the MP, cllr Rod Main, cllr Steve Saunders and others.
Mr Baker said: “The planning committee has ignored its own officers’ recommendation to defer the decision for two months, and taken a bizarre decision which I fear may be very harmful for the future of the town and for the port in particular. They have made an error of historic and far-reaching proportions.”
The MP argued the Eastside scheme would fatally undermine the shops in the town centre, damage job creation by allowing housing and retail on industrial land and divert scarce planning gain money into phase one of the port access road, which the port said it did not want or need. He added it would pull the rug out from under the port master plan and threaten the future of the port.
But leader of the district council James Page said: “Newhaven deserves the best. It has huge potential and I had hoped that the opportunity to hear both planning proposals together would have allowed members to weigh up the benefits of both schemes before coming to their decision.
“Frustratingly, the transport solution for the Railway Quay development could not be agreed by the Highways Authority and with such strong objection in place members’ hands were tied.
“I attended the committee meeting and was impressed by the detailed questions from councillors around the possible transport solutions and wider regeneration benefits. The deferral option lost credibility when East Sussex County Council stated they could see no workable solution ahead.”
Cllr Page said Lewes District Council worked hard to get all the facts before the committee and to look at the very important issues around: keeping the existing town centre alive, growth and business opportunities and the relationship with the port and helping deliver its master plan.
He said the council took seriously the feedback from the public consultation and considered the schemes against its own published regeneration strategy.
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Tennis-Illness disrupts Tomic's Wimbledon preparations - Reuters UK
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Source: uk.reuters.com
Wimbledon 2012: eight British players awarded wildcards - Daily Telegraph
Gentlemen's singles
1. BAKER, Jamie (GBR)
2. GOFFIN, David (BEL)
3. GOLDING, Oliver (GBR)
4. GOODALL, Josh (GBR)
5. HAAS, Tommy (GER)
6. HEWITT, Lleyton (AUS)
7. WARD, James (GBR)
8. To be announced
Ladies' singles
1. BROADY, Naomi (GBR)
2. KONTA, Johanna (GBR)
3. RAZZANO, Virginie (FRA)
4. ROBSON, Laura (GBR)
5. SHVEDOVA, Yaroslava (KAZ)
6. WATSON, Heather (GBR)
7. To be announced
8. To be announced
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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