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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASASinner, 22, is aiming to win his first grand slam in Sunday's final against Daniil Medvedev , having knocked out the all-conquering Novak Djokovic in the semi-final.
By OLLIE LEWIS, DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR
Published: 09:15 BST, 28 January 2024 | Updated: 09:35 BST, 28 January 2024
Lleyton Hewitt was reportedly spotted helping Jannik Sinner warm up ahead of the biggest match of the Italian's life at the Australian Open.
Sinner, 22, is aiming to win his first grand slam in Sunday's final against Daniil Medvedev, having knocked out the all-conquering Novak Djokovic in the semi-final.
The Italian entered the final as the favourite and according to Fox Sports had a helping hand from Aussie hero Hewitt, although fellow tennis great John Millman helped Medvedev prepare.
Hewitt has been keen to take on a mentoring role since retiring from tennis, and is regularly seen in Alex de Minaur's coaches' box.
He did, however, land himself in a spot of bother when he appeared to break the rules during De Minaur's defeat by Andrey Rublev earlier in the tournament.
Lleyton Hewitt reportedly helped Jannik Sinner warm up for the Australian Open final
Sinner (left) takes on Jannik Sinner in the final in Melbourne
With Rublev leading 4-0 in the fifth set it looked as though the Russian was starting to cramp up.
Rublev was pulling up short on the baseline and was stretching his calf between points.
Hewitt spotted this and tried to get De Minaur's attention so he could take advantage of the situation.
Coaches are permitted to courtside coach under new rules, but only when they are at the same end as the player.
Hewitt, who was situated at the other end of the court, appeared to gesture at De Minaur to make the Russian run more - however he stopped short when he noticed himself on the big screen at Rod Laver Arena.
Aussie Tennis great Todd Woodbridge acknowledged how frustrating it must've been for Hewitt.
'He was down the other end at the time and he's wanting to say 'Did you see it, did you see it?',' Woodbridge told Nine's Morning Serve.
Australian tennis legend Hewitt has taken on mentoring roles in his post-playing career
'And he couldn't sort of get the message across because he only needed to get the ball going corner to corner and kind of get Rublev moving, but that was what was amazing with Rublev.
'He'd go bang on the serve, crank a winner, or get the point where he could just stand in the centre and that's hard to do and he just kept his composure.
'Unbelievable when he was this close (gesturing with his fingers) to being not able to finish the match.'