Andrew Wu at Melbourne Park
Former Australian world No.1 Pat Rafter believes Lleyton Hewitt can return to the world's top 10 and claim another grand slam title.
Rafter, who will be inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, said Hewitt could again become a force in world tennis if he continued adhering the advice of coach Tony Roche, who wants the 26-year-old to play more aggressively.
That the man who Hewitt was an unabashed of when cutting his teeth on the tour still has faith in him will be a tremendous fillip to the South Australian, whose career has been on the slide since the end of 2005.
"There are some changes that I've seen taking place in his game," Rafter said on Thursday of Hewitt, who was ranked No.22 prior to the Open.
"But he was going for his backhand down the line, he was aggressive with his forehand, he was coming to the net."
"He's starting to really take on what Rochey is telling him. It's not that the other guys haven't told him that before, it's just now come to the point where he's going, 'I have to do it to make that change' and he's doing it, and I think it's really encouraging."
With Roger Federer dominating world tennis and young tyros Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic waiting to feast on any scraps, many tennis experts believe Hewitt will not win a third grand slam title.
Rafter, who pays little attention to the game outside of the Australian summer and the US Open, which he won in 1997-98, said the faster courts of Wimbledon represented Hewitt's best chance of winning another major.
"His technique, he's a very flat hitter of the ball and the spin now generated by the new strings doesn't really suit his type of game as it would someone like Nadal," Rafter said.
"So I think Wimbledon is his chance, and I think he can (win)."
Rafter, a 2006 inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, will join Australia's equivalent this Saturday, which fittingly is also Australia Day.
He said it was hard to compare the two honours.
"It's sort of like when you look at grand slams, which one do you want to win?" he said.
"And we were brought up as winning Wimbledon was our thing. I won the US Open and I would have loved one back at home also."
"It would have been great to have won one on your home soil. So it's really nice recognition here in Australia."