On This Day: Hewitt makes No. 1 historical past in 2001

On This Day

On This Day: Hewitt makes No. 1 historical past in 2001

Aussie rose to prime spot aged 20

November 19, 2025

Lleyton Hewitt made historical past on 19 November 2001 when aged 20 he turned the youngest World No. 1, a document which has since been handed by Carlos Alcaraz.

The flip of the millennium was a time when Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi weren’t on the peak of their powers, whereas 19-year-old Roger Federer had not but established himself on the prime of the sport. There to capitalise was Hewitt.

The Australian made waves in 2000 when he reached his first main semi-final on the US Open but it surely was his consistency coupled with standout runs in 2001 that led him to change into the second Australian after Patrick Rafter to rise to No. 1 within the PIF ATP Rankings.

Hewitt started the season by successful the title on residence soil in Sydney earlier than he loved a profitable Sunshine Double, advancing to the semi-finals in Indian Wells and Miami. Grass-court titles at Queen’s at ‘s-Hertogenbosch adopted but it surely was not till the American hard-court swing that the Aussie made his cost to No. 1.

Hewitt arrived on the US Open because the World No. 4, trailing World No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten by 1,360 factors. Nonetheless, the Australian delivered in New York, beating Andy Roddick, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Sampras en path to his first main title.

After closing the hole on the Brazilian Kuerten, Hewitt stormed to his fifth title of the season in Tokyo. Having certified for the Nitto ATP Finals, the 20-year-old headed into the celebrated year-end occasion figuring out that if he gained the trophy, he was assured of ascending to No.1. It was the identical, nonetheless, for 2 of his rivals: Kuerten and Agassi.

Hewitt stood unbeaten following a three-set win in opposition to Sebastien Grosjean earlier than a convincing victory in opposition to Agassi. By advantage of this straight-sets outcome, the items of the puzzle have been falling into place before anticipated as a twist within the race to No. 1 emerged. By beating Rafter in his last round-robin match, Hewitt certified for the semi-finals and importantly secured No. 1 rights. He beat Juan Carlos Ferrero for the lack of seven video games within the semis after which defeated Grosjean once more to win the occasion for the primary time.

Hewitt would go on to spend 75 consecutive weeks at No. 1, the third-best of all time after first rising to No. 1 behind Roger Federer (237 weeks), Jimmy Connors (160 weeks). Hewitt was simply one among 5 gamers (additionally Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner) to spend greater than a yr at No. 1 as a first-time World No. 1.