The Australian Open courts will be faster than ever this year, whatever Lleyton Hewitt believes, Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said on Tuesday.
Pollard was responding to criticism from former world number one Hewitt that the Melbourne Park hard courts were too slow and would hamper his chances of winning his home grand slam.
"We spent a substantial amount of money on making some modifications to the surface to make it faster," Pollard told a news conference in Adelaide.
"It would appear it's not fast enough to what Lleyton prefers... but it's very hard to create a perfect surface for everyone."
Hewitt said he wanted special treatment because of his achievements and was upset that Open organisers had done nothing to help him.
"I thought I may have had a bit of pull (influence) after being number one in the world for two years and winning a couple of slams, but obviously not that much," he said on Monday.
"I'm baffled by the whole thing. I really am and I've had a gut full of it to tell you the truth."
Hewitt won the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon a year later but has not won a Grand Slam since. He has never made it past the fourth round of the Australian Open in eight attempts.
The last Australian man to win the national championship was Mark Edmondson in 1976. Edmondson won the title when the Open was played on the grass courts of Kooyong.
