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TRIO OF HEADLINERS BRING WIDE RANGE OF SKILLS TO TENNIS CHANNEL OPEN
By Joel Drucker
All roads lead to Las Vegas and Tennis Channel Open. At least that's the motto for three of the headliners coming to this event - each hailing from a different continent, each armed with distinctly different playing styles and personalities. The big names: defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, Chilean powerhouse Fernando Gonzalez and the engaging but lethal Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis.
 "Tennis is such a wonderful demonstration of individual personalities, and these three superstars show that quite vividly," says Tennis Channel Open tournament director David Egdes. "Fans watching our event - both at the Darling Center and on Tennis Channel - are really going to enjoy their different playing styles and the intensity each brings to competition."
Desert conditions have always brought out the best in Hewitt's game. As far back as 2000, he won this event when it was played in Scottsdale. More recently, he twice took the title at the Pacific Life Open a bit southwest of here in Indian Wells, California.
According to another Australian legend, John Newcombe, "The various elements - sun, wind, changes in temperature, competing by day and night - all of this brings out the best in Lleyton."
One reason for this is that Hewitt lacks the false pride that can doom a competitor. This future Hall of Famer's career has been built on supreme recognition of what each point calls for and how he must summon up his strength for the challenging task of competition. That awareness is Hewitt's genius: the knowledge that tennis is not just a matter of ball-striking, but a matter of engaging with an opponent and looking for ways to take charge of a match.
But the last two years have been an adjustment period for a player who at the end of 2002 become the youngest man ever to finish two consecutive years ranked number one in the world. Hewitt is now 27. Life as a husband and father have perhaps broadened his focus.
Still, as Hewitt has balanced out his life he's of late taken steps to enhance his tennis. Last summer he joined forces with the revered Australian, Tony Roche, who previously had coached such greats as Roger Federer, Patrick Rafter and Ivan Lendl. Roche believes Hewitt has the goods to get back among tennis' elite. Says Roche, "You're dealing with a world-class player who's been there with that experience." Unquestionably, Hewitt will leave nothing on the table in his quest for more glory. And what happens in Las Vegas - site of the only singles title he won in 2007 - could give an indication of what's to come.
 While Hewitt is quite at home here, Fernando Gonzalez is a Las Vegas newcomer. Tennis fans, though, are by now quite familiar with this 27-year-old Chilean who brings new meaning to the word "explosive." This is a man who strikes his forehand so big he could well likely one day obliterate a tennis ball. It's a shot delivered with such strength that it can instantly alter the course of a match, as when Gonzalez confidently struck two missiles late in the third set of a win over Roger Federer at the ATP's season-ending Tennis Masters Cup. As Federer said immediately after that match, "I'm amazed at the consistency, because this is really what makes a difference between a good forehand and a great forehand. He definitely has one of the best ones out there."
But Gonzalez has done much to round out his game too. Under the tutelage of well-respected coach Larry Stefanki, over the last 18 months he has learned to be more patient, grasping how varying spins and paces with his backhand can better help set up his forehand. In 2007, Gonzalez's diligence was paid off handsomely when he reached the finals of the Australian Open, playing remarkably air-tight tennis in wins over such formidable opponents as James Blake, Rafael Nadal and Tommy Haas. He finished '07 with a career-high season-ending ranking of number seven in the world.
Rounding out Tennis Channel Open's trio of marquee players is a man with a manner and playing style completely his own. Then again, had you ever heard of any other tennis players from Cyprus prior to Marcos Baghdatis' splashy arrival on the tennis scene two years ago? Like Gonzalez in 2007, in '06 Baghdatis took the Australian Open by a storm. Wins over such superb players as Andy Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian earned him a spot in the finals versus Federer.  Though he lost the match, he won hearts.
For Baghdatis personifies the notion of a happy warrior. Often smiling, always radiating positive energy, he relishes the time he spends in the arena competing and earning a livelihood in a game. Of course it also helps to have such a well-rounded set of tools, ranging from flowing movement to sharp groundstrokes. "The way he times the ball is very impressive," says former pro Allen Fox. "He's so relaxed, so he's able to adjust and make good decisions."
Hewitt, Gonzalez, Baghdatis - swift, powerful, diversified. And yet while they are Tennis Channel Open's headliners, each knows there are 29 other men in this week's field equally primed to win the title. "That's the great thing about a sport," says Egdes. "On the one hand you're an entertainer, but even more, you're a competitor, so everyone's got to prove they've got the goods every time they step on the court."
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