“He yelled at me about the points and cursed”: Chela revealed details of her historic fight with Hewitt at the Australian Open

Juan Ignacio Chela and Lleyton Hewitt They staged one of the last great fights on a tennis court. During the Australian Open in the 2005 season, the Argentine and the local had a clash with insults and gestures, which led to a well-remembered action by the albiceleste: spitting on his rival.

In dialogue with the media clankthe former top 15 in the world said: “I think it was the only time I couldn’t control my emotions. Because normally I was stable, I was very calm. And we started playing and the game got hotter, hotter, hotter. He yelled points at me, he cursed. And at one point, I started to get so hot that I said: ‘I have to do something. I was crazy, I was ready to shit myself. That never happened to me in my life. And I had to do something to fight him.”

The story of Chela He continued, where he revealed details of his actions: “The first thing I do is throw a first serve at him, who had to dodge it. Right at him. I was already out. And in the change of ends, there all the candy stuck to me and I spit in his direction. I didn’t spit at him. Imagine the mess that broke out, center court at night, of the Australian Open. When I reacted I said: ‘Stop, what did I do?’ I kind of let myself down. And I ended up losing the match.”

After that defeat in the third round for the Argentine, he had to face again Hewitt at the 2006 Australian Open. And the memory of the previous fight was on the surface. “The following year, it was our turn again, second round I think it was, and he had already beaten me the year before. I was up two sets to zero, I was playing very well, competing at full strength. I said: “I’m going to go into zen mode, I’m not going to go into any.” I won 6-2 in the fourth and well, there I celebrated and relaxed. For me it was one of the best victories of my career, also for all the history, for everything I had behind me.”

In total, Chela and Hewitt They played eight matches, where the record ended up being in favor of the Australian by 5 to 3. The last match they played was in 2010, in Houston, where Juan Ignacio took the victory 6-4 and 6-3 and ended up becoming champion against Sam Querrey, being his penultimate ATP trophy.