Cahill, Hewitt join forces
Cahill, Hewitt join forces 
By Leo Schlink
Former Australian Captain May 01, 2007
LLEYTON Hewitt is on course to resume at the Rome Masters next week after a training partnership with former coach Darren Cahill.
Ranked 20th in the world, Hewitt has not played in almost two months because of knee and back problems.
The former world No.1 will travel to Italy late this week in preparation for his first tilt on European clay this season.
He will then contest events in Hamburg and Portschach, Austria, before the May 27-June 10 French Open in Paris.
Hewitt has been hitting in Sydney with Cahill, as he steels himself for a seven-week period, culminating with Wimbledon.
Hewitt and Cahill formed a highly successful partnership until the end of the 2001 season.
Without a coach since February, Hewitt will continue to work with Cahill and Australia Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald until the void is filled.
Hewitt was among a swag of Australians to make small ranking gains yesterday.
Hewitt moved back to the top 20 as Chris Guccione reclaimed his career-high ranking of 98.
Peter Luczak has jumped to 160th, an improvement of 100 places, and will contest this week’s Prosperita Open in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.
He will be joined there by Alun Jones and Joe Sirianni, while Paul Baccanello and Robert Smeets will be in Spain for the Lanzatore Challenger.
Perth’s Casey Dellacqua has risen nine places to 130. Sam Stosur (28), Nicole Pratt (45) and Alicia Molik (60) are all ranked in the top 60.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are in Majorca in preparation for the Battle Of Surfaces.
One side of the net is made of grass, the other of clay.
“It’ll be fun to find out what it’s like to play on a court with mixed surfaces,” Federer said.
Jelena Dokic has been in contact with her estranged father Damir after finding out he is very ill.
Damir Dokic said Jelena, 24, had contacted him this month after learning of his ailment but he would not say what he was suffering from.
- with AAP
