If it ain't broke, don't fix it, says Hewitt

MELBOURNE: Lleyton Hewitt would like to see the Australian Open left where it is - two weeks in January.

"I think as an Australian, it's probably the ideal time," Hewitt said yesterday. "This is the time that I've always known it as the Australian Open, the dates that I've always come to, since I was coming here as a young kid to watch."

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have suggested this week that it might be better to shift the Australian Open to February to allow for a longer preparation for the first Grand Slam through an extended period of leadup tournaments.