Hewitt Beats Coria in War of Words Davis Cup Meeting

Posted on July 16, 2005

While rain shortened the Davis Cup meeting between Australia and Argentina to one match Friday, the first day's encounter between Lleyton Hewitt and Guillermo Coria lived up to explosive expectations.

Hewitt put the Aussies out front with a screaming, fist-pumping, glaring, obscenity-spewing 7-6(5), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 exhibition that had Coria afterwards saying that on court he "feel(s) like killing him."

The tension between the two players fully erupted in the fourth set when Hewitt broke in the fifth game and jumped wildly in the air while at the same time directing his "fanatics" cheering section and the rest of the crowd to bring the noise.

Coria for his part lost his patience on the following changeover, yelling at the chair umpire and gesturing wildly, restrained by his coach.

Hewitt then turned up his own volume, shouting his trademark "C'mon!" and bringing out the Swedish "vicht" hand gesture which Coria started to mock. With the crowd and momentum behind him, Hewitt ran out the final two games of the match.

"He can be the best player in the world, he can win every tournament, but he cannot behave the way he does, abusing the captain, abusing the other players," Coria said. "I won't repeat what I heard out there. Outside of the court he is one thing, but inside the court you really feel like killing him."

Hewitt for his part claimed he played his regular game, though he said he directed words at his opponent after he saw the Argentine gesturing in his direction, asking Coria "if he had an issue."

"I say "C'mon!" on the court and I don't think that is so bad," Hewitt said. "The guy spat on the court and he spat in the referee's direction when he wasn't happy with the court surface. He tried hip-and-shouldering me in the first, and he complained the whole day. I'm not sure what his issue is but I'm pretty sure (it's) because he lost the match...To be perfectly honest, he is arrogant and he lost the match today and he's looking for every excuse in the book. Not once did I have words with him and to tell you the truth I think he's a sore loser."

Hewitt yelled "F*** off!" across the net on at least one occasion, but afterwards said it was not directed at Coria.

The second singles was suspended Friday due to moisture on the court, but on Saturday morning David Nalbandian finished off Wayne Arthurs 6-3, 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-2 to even the tie at 1-1.

The scheduled doubles for Saturday is Hewitt-Arthurs versus Nalbandian and Mariano Puerta, but don't be surprised if the Argentines pull a last-minute switch.