Lleyton Serves Up Tv Debut

[jessica_r]

Lleyton serves up TV debut

The Sun Herald

10 April 2005

Tennis star Lleyton Hewitt playing an extra on the set of Home and Away with girlfriend, Bec Cartwright.

Tennis champion Lleyton Hewitt was more nervous about making his acting debut on Home And Away than playing in the 2002 Wimbledon final.

The Wimbledon and US Open winner filmed an episode of the Channel Seven series opposite his fiancee Bec Cartwright on Thursday.

And he put in a solid performance - although he is not considering giving up his day job just yet.

"Having Bec in the scenes with me, though, helped calm the nerves," Hewitt said.

He spent half a day on the Home And Away set in Epping, filming two scenes which are scheduled to go to air over two nights in June.

In his first scene, he worked with Cartwright, who plays trouble-prone Hayley Smith, and co-stars Ben Unwin, Isabel Lucas and Chris Hemsworth.

Hewitt's second scene involved a speaking part with Cartwright and Lynne McGranger, who plays Aussie battler Irene.

The multimillionaire tennis player's Home And Away role came about three months after an off-hand comment he made at the Australian Open. During an interview with tennis commentator Jim Courier, Hewitt, 23, revealed that he would love to play an extra sitting in the famous Summer Bay diner.

Channel Seven executives were listening and made the approach about the cross-promotional opportunity, having already heavily featured 21-year-old Cartwright in crowd shots at the tennis tournament.

While Hewitt went down to Russian Marat Safin in the final, he kept his word to appear in the soap.

"I actually said it as a joke at the end of a 4-hour marathon," Hewitt said. "But I watched the show when I was younger and now, with Bec working on the show, I thought I would give it a go."

The pair, who announced their engagement on the night of the Open final, have not set a wedding date yet but bought a $4.5 million Palm Beach property together last week.

In June, Cartwright will take time off from Home And Away to join Hewitt at the Wimbledon tournament before they visit the site of an orphanage they hope to build in Cambodia.

Jess

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