LONDON -- A year ago, unseeded Nick Kyrgios had the audacity to hit a between-the-legs drop-shot winner against Rafael Nadal. The then-19-year-old Australian personally escorted the two-time Wimbledon champion from the grounds and reached the quarterfinals in his first appearance at the All England Club.
Kyrgios' first-round match Monday featured a cutting-edge haircut (dark hair shaved close with a screaming bleached-blonde streak along his left-side part), a hint of a goatee, a gaudy earring and a stylish white sleeve on his left arm. He is the epitome of a brash outsider, a rebel with a cause -- mess with me at your peril.
Thirteen years ago, when Kyrgios was 7 years old, Lleyton Hewitt was that very guy.
This, his 17th Wimbledon, is his final appearance. Hard to believe, but he was last man to win whose name is not Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Murray.
Hewitt still will play doubles here, but his singles career at Wimbledon is over after losing a first-round match to Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9. At the end of the spirited 4-hour match, the crowd on Court 2 gave both players a sustained standing ovation. The losing player rarely takes a bow, but an emotional Hewitt stepped out to salute the crowd.
"I probably don't cry easily, no," Hewitt said afterward, smiling. "I haven't cried today, if that's what you're asking. Pretty close, but not quite."
And so, the royal sendoff that many hoped for will not come to pass. Nieminen, who is also playing his final Wimbledon, will meet No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Hewitt, who is ranked No. 117 in the world and had to accept a wild card into the draw, is now 1-7 for the 2015 season. Nieminen beat Hewitt for the first time in six attempts.
The pride of Adelaide was a fiery, relentlessly driven young man. With a stubborn, baseline game, good wheels and an unnatural return of serve, Hewitt won Wimbledon in 2002, his second Grand Slam singles title in a span of four majors. And today, in the great Australian tennis continuum, Hewitt is the direct link to what looks like the next tsunami of talent: Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, 19, and Bernard Tomic, 22.
"Debt is the wrong word," explained Darren Cahill, who coached Hewitt to that Wimbledon win and the youngest-ever No. 1 ranking. "Hewitt was the example for this generation of Australian players. He showed them what was possible."
Cahill, another proud Aussie, is 49 years old and grew up idolizing Grand Slam champions John Newcombe and Tony Roche. Their examples, of course, were the great Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Ken Rosewall. Patrick Rafter, who won majors in 1997 and 1998, preceded the 34-year-old Hewitt, who will soon join them in retirement.
Roger Federer, who has made it a point to practice on the Aorangi park courts here with Hewitt for years, is a big fan.
"It's been always tough against him on this surface," Federer said last week. "I think for a baseliner, he was the first guy really from the baseline to have such a major impact. Plus he's a smaller guy. It was dominated by the big servers for a while. Back then, [Ivan] Lendl, [Jim] Courier, they had to really volley to have success. They did it very well.
"But Lleyton was really every point from the baseline. For him to win Wimbledon and have the career he had on the grass is quite unbelievable. It showed an entire generation how it can be done."
Recently at Queen's Club, Hewitt said the last major of his career would be the 2016 Australian Open. He's focused on the Davis Cup, too. Australia meets Kazakhstan after Wimbledon in the quarterfinals.
"I'll be helping out Australian tennis in some way," Hewitt said last week in London. "I have tried to help out Bernie Tomic the last couple of years, and I have a good relationship with Nick Kyrgios. Know Thanasi really well -- we are playing doubles here and at Wimbledon.
"I feel like I have a really good connection with those guys."
Monday, Kyrgios fashioned a 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (6) win over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and No. 27 seed Tomic defeated Jan Lennard-Struff 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Meanwhile, a low-energy Kokkinakis lost to No. 24 seed Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), 6-4.
The teenager has been ill, but he said he's still planning to play doubles here with Hewitt. Kokkinakis was 6 years old when Hewitt won Wimbledon and had yet to raise a racket.
"But, yeah, as I went on, and grew up watching more and more tournaments, you realize how big of an achievement that was and how much he's done for the sport in Australia," Kokkinakis said. "He's great to have around [Davis Cup]. He really sets the tone as far as work ethic and training goes. He really leads by example.
"I'm going to take [doubles], seriously. Since it's Lleyton's last Wimbledon, we'll give it a good crack."
Said Kyrgios: "His attitude and competitiveness I think is second to none. Maybe Rafa and him are the greatest competitors of all time. When you got him still playing Davis Cup, leading the charge, I think when he's training and you watch that, it's pretty special.
"I think it carries a little bit towards us guys."
On Sunday, Lleyton Hewitt walked into Centre Court and sat in the empty stands.
"Just soaked it up and listened to music in there," Hewitt said. "Just little things. Yeah, coming back knowing that it's your last time competing, as I've said all year, I'm fortunate that I can have that opportunity to do that.
"But it was more just thinking about that walk you do, the tradition of the tournament, playing on Centre Court. I'm fortunate that the Australian greats, we have so many with that tradition and history of the sport, especially here at Wimbledon. I love nothing more than catching up with the old guys and having a chat with them about certain stuff."
At the end of the first set, Hewitt made a running forehand down the line for a winner. He ran off the court, red-faced, screaming, with veins bulging in his neck. There were more than a dozen "come-ons" as Hewitt fought to save three match points -- but not the fourth.
"It's tough to find the words," Nieminen acknowledged later. "Tough to see a legend like Lleyton leave the court at for the last time at Wimbledon."