Lleyton Hewitt opened his 15th consecutive Wimbledon campaign with a brilliant upset win over Swiss 11th seed Stanislas Wawrinka before ranking the victory among the best in his career.
The 32-year-old Australian, a 2002 champion at the All England Club, rolled back the years to reach the second round with a 6-4 7-5 6-3 triumph on Monday.
It was the only Australian victory in singles on the opening day after Marinko Matosevic and Matt Reid lost their first-round matches.
The biggest upset of the day came when French Open winner Rafael Nadal was bundled out by Belgian world No.135 Steve Darcis.
When Hewitt’s match finished in fading light in front of a vocal group of Australian fans on Court One, an emotional Hewitt dropped to his knees in celebration.
“People ask me when I’m going to retire. Why would I retire when I can play in an atmosphere like that?,” Hewitt said after the match.
Asked where the win ranked in his career Hewitt said: “It’s definitely up there.
“The last two years I’ve come here and I’ve competed but last year I don’t think I was even close to 50 per cent physically.
“So yeah, you just enjoy the moment.”
The former world No.1, now ranked 70th, underwent radical toe surgery in 2012 to save his career and revealed several surgeons told him he would never play again.
“There were probably five, six, seven that I spoke to worldwide. They said if I had it done, you’re done,” Hewitt said.
You might like
“In all my research beforehand, which was very extensive, I never found another athlete that had it done, or had it done and tried to come back and play any kind of sport.
“It’s something I’m pretty proud of as well.”
Hewitt will next face German Dustin Brown, who defeated Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Hewitt is not getting ahead of himself despite his section of the draw opening up significantly, with his potential fourth-round opponent Rafael Nadal suffering a shock loss to Steve Darcis just moments earlier on the same court.
“I was a little bit surprised,” Hewitt said.
“… I’ll take it one match at a time.”
Buoyed by his surprise run to the Queen’s Club semi-finals, Hewitt said he didn’t feel like the underdog against Wawrinka, who’d been defeated by the eventual champions in both of this year’s grand slams.
And he didn’t look it either as he blew his opponent off the court early in racing to a 4-0 first-set lead.
Wawrinka battled back but Hewitt held on to serve it out on his fourth set point when up 5-4.
Hewitt fought back from a break down to claim the second set, broke early in the third set and producing some scintillating tennis to fight off a desperate Wawrinka and seal the win.
Earlier, Matosevic’s grand slam duck extended to 10 matches with a 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-3 loss to Frenchman Guillaume Rufin.
The 27-year-old’s record in grand slams is the equal worst of any active player, matched only by Italian Paolo Lorenzi who also lost his 10th match from as many attempts on Monday.
“It’s pretty shattering right now. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Matosevic said.
Qualifier Reid, 22, was far from disgraced in 6-2 6-2 6-4 loss to Czech veteran Radek Stepanek and said he would benefit from his grand slam debut.
Samantha Stosur, Bernard Tomic, Matthew Ebden and James Duckworth open their campaigns today.
In other matches Rafael Nadal suffered Wimbledon humiliation by Belgian world No.135 Steve Darcis, a shock first-round defeat which instantly cleared the title paths of Andy Murray and Roger Federer.
Stay informed, daily
The 29-year-old Darcis won 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 in two hours and 55 minutes, inflicting the fifth-seeded Spaniard’s first loss in the opening round of a major.
It also came just two weeks after 12-time grand slam title winner Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 Wimbledon champion, had celebrated a record eighth French Open crown.
Second-seeded Murray made history as the world No.2 cruised into the second round with a 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory over Germany’s Benjamin Becker.
Murray becomes the most successful British man in grand slam history, surpassing Fred Perry’s 106 matches won at the four majors.
Federer began his bid for a record eighth Wimbledon with a 69-minute demolition of Victor Hanescu.
The seven-time champion swept to a 6-3 6-2 6-0 win to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his first Wimbledon triumph.
French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eased to a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6-3 win over David Goffin of Belgium.
HOW THE AUSTRALIANS FARED ON DAY ONE AT WIMBLEDON
Men’s singles, first round
Lleyton Hewitt bt 11-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 6-4 7-5 6-3
Marinko Matosevic lost to Guillaume Rufin (Fra) 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-3
Matt Reid lost to Radek Stepanek (Cze) 6-2 6-2 6-4.
Women’s doubles, first round
12-Ashleigh Barty/Casey Dellacqua bt Valeria Solovyeva (Rus)/Maryna Zanevska (Ukr) 6-2 7-5
Men’s doubles, first round
Paul Hanley/John-Patrick Smith bt Philipp Marx (Ger)/Florin Mergea (Rou) 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4
