Hewitt claims place in history as fellow Australians reserve judgement

Picture the luxury of belonging to a nation where winning comes naturally. A 21-year-old waltzes away with one of sport's most prestigious titles after slaughtering Britain's finest on home turf, and Australians nod approvingly and wonder what to have for tea.

Lleyton Hewitt's Wimbledon victory did not exactly pass unremarked in his homeland, but the reaction has been distinctly understated. There was some sniggering when he squashed Tim Henman in the semi-final, but only two million people stayed up for the one-sided final – far fewer than watched the epic five-setter between Pat Rafter and Goran Ivanisevic last year.

Hewitt's defeat of Argentina's David Nalbandian was widely expected and prompted sighs of relief; it was 15 years since an Australian – Pat Cash – last won Wimbledon, an interval perceived as rather embarrassing. Commentators speculated idly that the Adelaide boy might well have a few more Grand Slam titles in him.

If Henman ever wins that elusive Wimbledon crown, Britain – which has not had a champion for 66 years – will go crazy. There will be newspaper souvenir editions, television interviews and profiles, probably an invitation to No 10. Here, there are vague plans to give Hewitt a tickertape parade when he returns to Adelaide, but that will not be until September, by which time the mild excitement will have died down.

The muted reaction is partly because the country is accustomed to sporting triumphs, including in tennis. World-class players have been thin on the ground in recent years, but in the post-war period Australians dominated the sport, winning Wimbledon 14 times between 1952 and 1971.

The other reason is that Hewitt has always provoked ambivalence among his countrymen, who admire his precocious talent while disliking his on-court histrionics: the fist-pumping, the "C'mons!" with which he drives himself to victory. Australians prefer their sportsmen self-deprecating, like Rafter, and they are unconvinced by Hewitt's baseline style of play.

The uneasy relations go back a few years. Hewitt alienated fans in 1999 by calling Adelaide spectators "stupid" when they vented their disapproval of his ill-tempered antics during the Hardcourt Championships. He subsequently banned all one-to-one interviews with Australian tennis writers, a policy that still stands.

Last year he was fined at the French Open for calling an umpire a "spastic", and at the US Open he made an apparently racist comment about an Afro-American opponent, James Blake. The antipathy has subsided a little in the past year, as Hewitt curbed his tantrums, played some heroic Davis Cup matches, won the US Open and ended 2001 as the youngest ever world No 1. His relationship with Belgium's Kim Clijsters has softened some hearts.

While he will never be idolised like Rafter, Australians are trying their best to like him – particularly after he breezed through the Wimbledon draw.

"Out of line but you've come a long way, baby" was the headline on one column in The Australian, a national newspaper, following his win in SW19.

An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald welcomed Hewitt's growing maturity, saying: "There is more to being a champion in the public's eyes than winning. It is Hewitt's good fortune that he has had people such as Rafter around him to remind him of the value of sportsmanship."

Another Herald writer observed: "Self-effacing he is not. Neither is he obviously good-looking or witty. But the world of tennis and Australia has started to love Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt is rapidly becoming a bona fide Aussie legend."

Australia's grasscourt veterans believe Hewitt has yet to reach his full potential. John Newcombe, a three times Wimbledon champion, said he could improve his game by adopting a more aggressive style of play. "That's the next dimension to his game," he said.

John Fitzgerald, the Davis Cup captain, said: "It's a pretty scary thought, really, but he can get better in a couple of areas, so therefore if he doesn't get a major injury, then there's no reason why he can't win several major championships. He's a great player and he could win all four majors."

For his part, Hewitt claims not to care whether he wins any more Grand Slams. That will not last, but for the moment he appears to be taking Pat Cash's advice to stop and "smell the roses". He is even contemplating skipping his reverse singles rubber at the Davis Cup tie against India in September - provided Australia are 3-0 up – to play in a charity match for the Adelaide Crows, his Aussie Rules team.

After his Wimbledon win, Hewitt said: "I can come back here, hopefully, when I'm 65 years old and sit in the members' seat and watch." It appears that the newest member of the All England Club already has a sense of his place in history.