on this day
On this day: Hewitt made first history in 2001
20-year-old Australian tops list
November 19, 2025
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Lleyton Hewitt has been ranked No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings for 75 consecutive weeks.
Sam Jacott
On November 19, 2001, 20-year-old Lleyton Hewitt made history and became the youngest world number one, a record that was later surpassed by Carlos Alcaraz.
At the turn of the millennium, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi had yet to reach their peak, and 19-year-old Roger Federer had yet to establish himself at the top. Hewitt is one of the best.
The Australian caused a stir in 2000 when he reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open, but it was his consistency coupled with a stellar performance in 2001 that saw him become only the second Australian after Patrick Rafter to rise to number one in the PIF ATP rankings.
Hewitt started the season by winning the title on his home soil in Sydney, followed by successful sunshine doubles at Indian Wells and Miami, reaching the semi-finals. The Australian then won the grass court title at ‘s-Hertogenbosch’s Queen’s Stadium, but it wasn’t until the American hard courts that the Australian ascended to the world’s No. 1 spot.
Hewitt arrived at the U.S. Open ranked fourth in the world, 1,360 points behind world number one Gustavo Kuerten. However, the Australian defeated Andy Roddick, Evgeny Kafelnikov and Sampras in New York to capture his first Grand Slam title.
Hewitt claimed his fifth title of the season in Tokyo after closing the gap on Brazilian Kuerten. After qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, the 20-year-old entered the prestigious year-end event knowing that winning the trophy would surely propel him to world number one. However, the same is true for his two rivals: Kurten and Agassi.
Hewitt remained unbeaten after a three-set win over Sebastian Grosjean before adding a convincing victory over Andre Agassi. With a straight-set victory, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place sooner than expected and the battle for first place took a turn. By defeating Rafter in the final round-robin game, Hewitt qualified for the semi-finals and importantly secured the right to first place. He defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semi-finals, who had lost seven games in a row, and then defeated Grosjean again to win the event for the first time.
Hewitt went on to spend 75 consecutive weeks at No. 1, the third-best run in history after Roger Federer (237 weeks) and Jimmy Connors (160 weeks) reached No. 1 for the first time. Hewitt is just one of five players (along with Novak Djokovic and Yannick Sinner) to reach No. 1 in the world for the first time.
