Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt has been given a wildcard entry to the Aegon Championships at Queen’s in what will be his last grass-court season. Hewitt will begin his preparations for his final bow at Wimbledon this year at the Aegon Championships. The unusual move to hand out a wildcard before the entry list is known is reward for the 33-year-old former world No 1 who has won the Wimbledon warm-up event four times. Hewitt, who will retire after next year’s Australian Open, is winding down his career and will only play two tournaments this year, Queen’s and Wimbledon as well as the Davis Cup. Hewitt currently shares the record of four Queen’s titles with John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Andy Roddick.
The two-time grand slam champion and former world No 1 announced in Melbourne last month that he anticipated the 2016 Australian Open being his final tournament. Now Hewitt has revealed he intends to play very sparingly in 2015 with a focus on the grass-court season. The 33-year-old is currently preparing for Australia’s Davis Cup World Group tie against the Czech Republic next month, and after that he will turn his attention to grass.
Hewitt said of Queen’s: “I can’t wait to get back there one more time. I’ll enjoy the grass one more time, and then finish off where it all started for me, at the Australian Open.”
Tournament director Stephen Farrow had no hesitation in guaranteeing Hewitt his place. “It took us roughly two seconds to decide to guarantee Lleyton a wild card,” said Farrow. “It is a little unconventional to award wild cards before the entry list has been finalised, but Lleyton is one of our greatest champions and we were delighted to hear that he wanted to return one more time.”
Hewitt will join defending champion Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and British number one Andy Murray in the draw for the event, which takes place from 15 to 21 June.
Meanwhile, the ATP has dropped its investigation into Tunisian player Malek Jaziri’s withdrawal before a possible match against an Israeli opponent, saying it was “fully satisfied” that he had a legitimate injury.
Jaziri retired from his first-round match against sixth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan after winning the first set 6-3 at the Open Sud de France in Montpelier last week, citing an elbow injury.
Lleyton Hewitt receives a wildcard entry to the Aegon Championships at Queen's
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