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Australian Lleyton Hewitt Claims One of Premier Turf Wars in Sports World

Aired July 08, 2002 - 10:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Australian Lleyton Hewitt has claimed one of the premier turf wars in the sports world. Hewitt captured his first Wimbledon title, and did it with relative ease yesterday, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, pretty quick. This was the most one-sided final, in fact, in 18 years. The euphoric champ entered the tournament as its top seed, and he left it with this quote: "If I don't win another tournament again, it won't matter."

Richard Pagliaro is a writer for "Tennis Week" magazine and he is also the Internet editor for the Web site, tennisweek.com.

Good morning, how are you?

RICHARD PAGLIARO, "TENNIS WEEK": Good morning, Leon, how are you?

HARRIS: Hey, I'm well, thanks for asking.

Got to ask you, were you surprised by what happened yesterday?

PAGLIARO: Not at all, Leon. David Nalbandian was a 28th seed. He's from Argentina. He had never even played a professional grass court tournament, let alone Wimbledon. That was his first time on center court. If someone had told you prior to the start of a tournament that David Nalbandian would be in the final, you would probably have a better -- you would probably believe that Ozzy Osbourne would be elected to Parliament. It's just an amazing achievement for him. Hewitt is just a better player. He's number one in the world for a reason. He's very consistent, very quick, and right now, he is the number one by far.

HARRIS: You know, there's something about rooting to interest underdog, too. A lot of us were thinking, as a 28th seed, for this guy to get that far, that was still a great story for Nalbandian.

PAGLIARO: It was. It was a great story.

HARRIS: You hit on the main point. Lleyton Hewitt has erased any question about who is number one in mens' tennis.

PAGLIARO: Yes, he really is convincingly the number one. He's got almost a 2000-point lead in the ranking over Maran Safin (ph), who is the second seed. Prior to Hewitt winning Wimbledon yesterday, the last eight Grand Slams, eight different men had won it. So you know, we realize the depth in men's tennis. Now he comes along, he wins two slams in the last 10 months, so he's really sort of secured his hold on the number one spot.

HARRIS: But You know what gets me -- I'm a little bit of tennis afficianado; I pay attention.

PAGLIARO: But you're a great player, Leon.

HARRIS: In my dreams, you should see me. But the thing is, when is last time you saw a baseliner win Wimbledon like this and to do so so convincingly. I mean, that's an arena where basically the world's best, you know, server and volleyers basically ascend to the fore here.

PAGLIARO: Yes, you're absolutely right, the last time a baseliner was '92 when Agassi beat Ivan Isovich (ph) in a great five- set final. And prior to that, the last time two baseliners had actually contested the finals was Connors versus Borg in '78.

So yes, it's very unusual. You're right, it's very unusual.

HARRIS: All right, can't let you go without talking about the Williams sister, also because I want some doughnuts off Daryn Kagan on that one, too, because I picked Serena.

Listen, you know, going into this, a lot of us were wondering what kind of match we would see, because normally when these sisters play each other, they know each other's game so well. They don't do well, or they just don't like beating each other, or they don't try that hard.

But this time around, do you think what we saw here was the real match-up between these two sisters?

PAGLIARO: Yes, I absolutely think it was the most exciting match that they've played, the nine times they've played. Venus won five of the nine. I think they're getting increasingly more comfortable facing each other. As they play more and more, I think it will be become easier and easier for them. I thought it was a good match. I thought it was really exciting rallies, and I thought Serena really got after it. Venus is such an attacking offensive player, you rarely see her on the defensive. In that second set, Serena was hitting the corners, hitting with such pace, Venus was really reduced to playing defense a lot of that second set, and that's really unusual for a player-her caliber to be forced on the defensive.

I thought it was exciting match. I enjoyed it.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's more exciting than anything we've seen on the men's side. What's the deal with the money here? The women, Serena wins $743,000. Lleyton Hewitt gets $843,000. Why is the prize money not equal at Wimbledon?

PAGLIARO: Well, that's the way the All-England Club has traditionally done it. Their rationale is that the men play three out of five sets and the women only play two out of three. So they're saying the men are working longer, working harder; they deserve to be paid more. But on the womens' side, a lot of the time, their rallies and their exchanges are actually longer, and as you pointed out, there's more -- right now, the women's game is more popular and they have more charismatic players, so in that sense, you know, the women do serve equal pay in some sense, and the U.S. Open does pay equally, men and women.

HARRIS: Richard, can't let you go without having you give you play by play on this most exhilarating and arousing moment at Wimbledon here.

KAGAN: We don't know that because they lock blocked it out.

Have you seen this? This streaking video?

PAGLIARO: Yes, I did see it, it was pretty bizarre.

Remember during the Mao-Washingnton (ph) final a few years back it was a woman streaker, and I enjoyed that a little bit more.

KAGAN: Equal opportunity, I guess.

HARRIS: Anything for the ratings.

PAGLIARO: Anything for the ratings.

HARRIS: Real quick, before we let you go, two-word answer here, which one has a better chance of winning the Grand Slam? Lleyton Hewitt or Serena Williams?

PAGLIARO: I think Serena Williams. Yes, I do. I think Serena Williams is real confident right now.

KAGAN: Looks good. Great picture right there.

PAGLIARO: All right, Leon, we'll see you on the court soon, right?

HARRIS: You got it. As a matter of fact, this Thursday.

KAGAN: Really. That might be more entertaining than that streaking video.

HARRIS: Don't bring cameras.

Take it easy, man. We'll see you later on.

PAGLIARO: OK, thank you, Leon.

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