Lleyton Hewitt was once the best player in the world. In 2001, he won his first grand slam at the US Open and ended the year by winning the World Championships. A year later, he made his mark by winning the most coveted of all grand slams, Wimbledon, and fourteen years after that remarkable win, Hewitt is back at the All-England Club, singing his swansong to endless cheers even as the Australian hit a long forehand to give his opponent the match.

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Hewitt went down to Jarkko Nieminen in the first round but not without a fight. With his wife and children watching him from the stands of court 2, the former no. 1 gave his all and impressed the crowd with his brand of ferocious tennis. He took the first set and looked poised for a straight set victory but his Finnish opponent battled back in the second hitting eight winners with an 84% first serve percentage. The third set, which Hewitt took, gave the Aussie a slight advantage to capture the entire match but Nieminen had stronger shots and slowly demolished Hewitt in the fourth until his engine died down in the final set.

The match lasted for four hours with a final score of 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9, in favor of Nieminen but there was more to it than what the numbers show. It was a testament to Hewitt's tenacity and despite injuries plaguing him, the 34-year-old proved that there is such a thing as going down in glory.

"That pretty much summed up my career," Hewitt said as reported by The Guardian. "My never-say-die attitude. I have lived with that for 18 or 19 years. It is not something I work on. I just have a lot of self-motivation to get the best out of myself, whether here or in the gym. I am proud [of the fact] that I went out there and left it all out there."

What's next for Hewitt? He is still in the Wimbledon doubles draw and looks forward to the 2016 Australian Open where he will play singles. Hey may also be involved in Australian tennis, which has produced heavy hitters like Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, but for now, he leaves upcoming talents with this advice:

" A lot of it is the small 1% that you do. It's more behind the scenes, on the practice court, in the gym that will pay off down the line," Hewitt told The Australian. "They're fortunate they can rely on finishing points quickly and having those big serves they can go to when they need to. There's certain areas they can work on to become more of a complete player.''

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