Lleyton Hewitt was a 200-1 shot for the French Open at the start of May, but after proving his fitness and playing with all his famed aggression in Hamburg the Adelaide fighter could now be a surprise contender.

Since winning the second of his two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2002, Hewitt has had to struggle with fitness problems and, like everyone else, the fact that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have had the majors to themselves for the last couple of years.

But after a false start earlier in the year, the former world number one is back in the top 16 and feeling positive about his chances of challenging for a third Grand Slam.

"There are only a handful of guys who can get in a position to win one," the 26-year-old said during his run to the semi-finals at the Hamburg Masters last week. "Let's see what happens."

Even talking about a crack at the French Open looked absurd a few weeks ago. After winning in Las Vegas at the start of March, Hewitt's fitness problems reared again as he was forced to miss a couple of months with a back injury.

He was knocked out in the first round in Rome by Oscar Hernandez when he made his comeback but then rediscovered his game in Germany.

At Hamburg he beat classy claycourt opponents in Agustin Calleri, Juan Ignacio Chela, Nikolay Davydenko and Nicolas Almagro before taking Nadal to the brink in a knife-edge three-setter in the semi-finals.

Nadal went on to lose in the final to Federer, showing that a third successive title for the Spaniard at Roland Garros may not be the foregone conclusion most people imagined.

Nadal remains unquestionably the world's best on clay and Federer will be his biggest threat but no one will fancy taking on Hewitt if he remains at his awkward, belligerent best.

'WORSE PREPARATION'

"I've always admired Lleyton," Nadal had said before their semi-final. "He's one of my favourite players. I like his game and his mentality on court."

Hewitt won the US Open in 2001 at the age of 20 and followed that up with victory at Wimbledon the following year. He finished both 2001 and 2002 as world number one and also helped Australia win the Davis Cup in 1999 and 2003.

He made it to the fourth round at Paris last year, losing to Nadal but at least managing to take a set off him.

That run was all the more impressive given that his claycourt season to that point had been anything but impressive, with just a first-round defeat at Poertschach in the build-up to the event.

"Last year I felt like I played pretty well in Paris," he said. "And I probably couldn't have had worse preparation.

Hewitt made his name as a counter-puncher but at Hamburg he was attacking the points much more than he has in the past on clay, coming into the net more often against players who like to play the points from well behind the baseline.

He also looked more motivated than he has done for a while, and when a player as competitive as Hewitt really wants to win he can take some stopping.

"You aspire to be the world number one, to win a grand slam and to win the Davis Cup and when I was 21 I had all three," he said.

"But I'd love nothing more than to win another grand slam and I think I'm capable of it."

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