Hewitt is not quite retired. He is still in the men’s doubles with Sam Groth and scheduled to play Friday, but once he is done with the doubles, he will move into his new role as captain of Australia’s Davis Cup team, mentoring great young talents with some behavioral issues of their own in Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, both of whom are still in this Australian Open.

Wimbledon might be the title Hewitt values most, but Davis Cup is the competition that has earned him the most respect from Australians and has surely helped keep him competing long after most other big stars would have tired of the slide down the rankings.

Hewitt, who was No. 308 when he took to the court Thursday, has not been past the fourth round in a Grand Slam event since 2009. Yet he put himself through operations and strict training regimens without getting the obvious rewards in terms of results. He then put himself through a yearlong farewell tour: something else many of his peers would have done differently.

“I think Lleyton is always about doing it his way, and he’s not going to be told what he should do, when he should retire, how he should play or how he should behave on the court,” said Darren Cahill, the coach who guided him to No. 1. “He’s been incredibly stubborn, and it’s what has made him a champion to a large degree. Ultimately you can’t do what he’s done unless you absolutely love the game, and you love the journey that goes with it, and in that I mean the travel and the training and the ability to get out of bed every morning and force yourself to get a little better.”

Hewitt made the journey under plenty of scrutiny, and the Australian Open, where he reached one final, in 2005, has gone through so much change of its own.

When Hewitt first played in the Australian Open, in 1997, the hardcourt surface was green Rebound Ace instead of blue cushioned acrylic, and the complex had one court with a retractable roof instead of three.