Fatherhood beats tennis in love match
20 May, 2005
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Fatherhood beats tennis in love match
20 May 2005
Courier Mail
If I were Lleyton Hewitt right now, I’d fake an injury too.
Not that I am suggesting he has, but the first months of any relationship are a whirlwind of endorphins and foggy, sleep deprived memories. And with his engagement to Bec Cartwright, FHM’s most sexiest woman, and a baby on the way - who would want to play tennis in France.
Hewitt is likely to miss the French Open due to what his management are calling ‘a household accident’. He is suffering a hairline crack of the rib after a fall in his home at Palm Beach. Now, I am not at all suggesting Hewitt is making this up, but I’ve seen him play tennis a fair bit. He has intensity and good old Aussie guts and determination. Once upon a time a hairline crack in anything would not have slowed Lleyton down.
Now, I never thought I’d be holding Lleyton Hewitt up as a role model to young men when it comes to fathering and commitment, but after this most recent event that’s exactly what I’m doing.
Along with his fiancee, Bec Cartwright, he represents the changing face of his generation. They are like a growing number of young Australians who have decided to go about their life their own way. Make their own decisions and show that people in their early 20s are as mature and capable as anyone.
True, the Hewitt-Cartwright story strikes a chord with my own tale of love and romance. Mine was an equally rapid journey into fatherhood.
I remember calling my ex-girlfriend to tell her that less than 6 months after our break up I was going to be a dad. It was the most confronting call I’d had to make, like driving the stake of heartbreak in an extra few centimetres. But, it had to come from me because it was my news to tell.
That phone call and becoming a dad was when I began taking some responsibility - for my own actions, for other people in my life, for the community as a whole. I began to see that the world did not revolve around me. And I think Lleyton is doing the same thing.
Hewitt has played in the last 25 grand slams. He hasn’t missed one. Pointing his hand shaped like a duck at his eyes he has remained focussed on tennis and that is all. But, in steps a soapie star and the court gets so much bigger. Now he has fallen in love and become an expecting father suddenly the tennis, the fame and the competitiveness doesn’t seem as important anymore.
Of course, it hasn’t gone away. But, just as Patrick Rafter told Andrew Denton the other week on Enough Rope, there are more important things than tennis.
In response to a question about parenthood Hewitt said: “The baby is obviously going to be our main priority”.
The cynics will roll their eyes and say that only time will tell. But, celebrity relationships are not all doomed to fail and I am looking forward to watching Bec and Lleyton become role models for generation Y.
On top of everything else, they have invested money to build an orphanage in Cambodia. Bec’s Dancing with the Stars money went to an AIDS charity and on the whole they are a pretty good number one celebrity couple.
So, young Australians take note: when two famous people fall in love and have a baby their careers and the attention of fame take a back seat – it is the baby that becomes the priority.
Currently, the Australian Idol auditions are on. Hundreds of thousands of young people will stand in the audition line for hours to become the next Australian Idol – but while in line they should keep an eye out for that special someone.
Who knows? It might just be that the reality of relationships, marriage and children beats the reality of reality TV every time.
Daniel Donahoo is a fellow at OzProspect, a non-partisan, public policy think-tank
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