Hewitt Pulls Out of the L.A. Field

Welcome to the UCLA tennis jinx, 2002.

Every year, it seems, an injury, illness or fill-in-the-excuse malady hits the Mercedes-Benz Cup tournament, spiriting away a top player on the Friday before the event at UCLA’s L.A Tennis Center.

Two Grand Slam tournament winners of 2002 were announced as withdrawals by tournament officials Friday: Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden. Johansson’s representatives said Thursday he was sidelined because of a knee injury.

Hewitt, the world’s top-ranked player who is also the defending U.S. Open champion, is said by his representatives to have a stomach virus.

“Hopefully, it will just be a matter of days before Lleyton is ready to resume training and be back on tour,” said Tom Ross, Hewitt’s agent. “Lleyton is as disappointed to have had to withdraw from the Mercedes-Benz Cup as are tournament officials and fans in Los Angeles.”

Ross said Hewitt was not able to practice this week when he was in Belgium at the home of his girlfriend Kim Clijsters, and added that Hewitt had little strength and was unable to eat much.

Hewitt pulled out of the quarterfinals of a Wimbledon tuneup event in the Netherlands in June with a similar ailment but was able to resume practicing the day after the withdrawal.

The highest-ranked player remaining in the tournament, which starts Monday, is Tommy Haas of Germany. Defending champion Andre Agassi, who defeated Pete Sampras in last year’s final, is the No. 2-seeded player. The following seeded players, in order, are Sebastien Grosjean of France, Andy Roddick, Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, Xavier Malisse of Belgium, and Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

Sampras considered taking a wild-card spot but eventually declined. He parted ways with coach Jose Higueras after Wimbledon, and there is speculation he may work with his former coach Paul Annacone through the U.S. Open. Annacone could not be reached for comment nor could Sampras, who was playing in a charity event in Dallas Friday night.