No Australian man has won the Open since Mark Edmonson beat John Newcombe in 1976 and the last local player to reach the final was Pat Cash in 1988.

Hewitt has won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon championships but never made it past the fourth round in Australia in eight attempts.

He believes the surface is too slow for Australian players and wants tournament officials to speed it up to help their chances of winning.

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"At the end of the day it's their tournament, it's the Australian Open's business how they want the court," Hewitt told reporters on Thursday.

"But I know the U.S. Open would definitely be going up to (Andy) Roddick and (Pete) Sampras and (Andre) Agassi and asking them what kind of surface they want and how quick they want it.

"At the end of the day, if one of those guys are in the semi or the final then it's making the USTA a hell of a lot of money."

Hewitt said the hardcourt surface had gradually got slower over the past four years but Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee refuted this.

"Since 2001 it's been the same or quicker," McNamee said.

"It's a very good surface, Rebound Ace has been able to tweak its surface a little this year and we're quite comfortable with it."

Despite his lack of success in Melbourne, Hewitt said he was confident of a strong showing at next month's first grand slam of the year.

The 23-year-old has risen to three in the world rankings and reached the final of this year's U.S. Open where he was beaten by Roger Federer.

He said he feels more pressure playing at home than abroad but was not unfazed by the added burden.

"At the end of the day there's always going to be a lot of pressure," he said.