- Lleyton Hewitt was caught trying to coach Alex de Minaur
- Hewitt saw that Rublev cramped in the fifth set
- It is illegal to coach from the other side of the field
Australian tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt appeared to break the rules during Alex De Minaur’s dramatic four-hour, five-set defeat to Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open on Sunday night.
The local hope fought back from losing the first set to take a two sets to one lead at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday and looked destined to go further as a frustrated and emotional Rublev waged a verbal war on himself.
But a brilliant Rublev came home with a wet sail to set up the equalizer and when De Minaur crumbled he put his foot down in the fifth set to win 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6- 7 (4-7) 6 -3 6-0.
However, with a 4-0 lead in the fifth set, it seemed that the Russian was starting to cramp.
Rublev came up short on the baseline and stretched his calf between the points.
Lleyton Hewitt appeared to break the rules during Alex De Minaur’s dramatic defeat
Australian hope Alex de Minaur was defeated in five sets by fifth seed Andrey Rublev
Hewitt saw this and tried to get De Minaur’s attention so he could take advantage of the situation.
Coaches are allowed to coach on the right side under the new rules, but only if they are on the same side as the player.
Hewitt, who was at the other end of the pitch, appeared to gesture to De Minaur to get the Russian to run more, but he stopped abruptly when he saw himself on the big screen at Rod Laver Arena.
Aussie Tennis great Todd Woodbridge acknowledged how frustrating it must have been for Hewitt.
“He was on the other end of the line at the time and he wants to say, ‘Did you see it, did you see it?’,” Woodbridge told Nine’s Morning Serve.
“And he couldn’t get the message across because all he had to do was get the ball from corner to corner and get Rublev moving, but that was the great thing with Rublev.
Todd Woodbridge pointed out that Hewitt was on the wrong side of coaching
Rublev will next face in-form fourth seed Jannik Sinner in the last eight
‘He would blast on serve, create a winner, or get to the point where he could just stand in the middle and that’s hard to do and he just kept his composure.
‘Unbelievable when he was so close (gesturing with his fingers) that he couldn’t finish the match.’
The loss led to heartbreaking scenes after the match in which a shattered De Minaur was seen in the players’ gym as he was comforted and hugged by his English girlfriend, fellow tennis player Katie Boulter.
Fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios applauded his efforts in a match played at an “insane” athletic level, while American legend John McEnroe opined that de Minaur had only been beaten by a man who played “one of the best fifth sets I’ve ever seen.” ever seen in a match’. Grand Slam’.
“It was one of Rublev’s greatest efforts of all time, who took it to the next level,” McEnroe said on Eurosport.