Regular readers of my blog will know that I pay as much attention to sport as I do to the state of my house. However, the other day I stumbled across my visiting mother muttering in a cluttered corner about Australian You-Bewt Tennis Legend, Lleyton Hewitt, and his “imaginary little friend”.
“Please – no sport-talk in front of the children,” I gently reminded her before asking her exactly what the hell she was referring to.
It turns out she’s talking about the little Hand Puppet that he likes to say “Come on!” to during tennis matches.

Lleyton Hewitt literally "talks to the hand"
“Come on!” is apparently just an abbreviated way of saying “Oh do come on, my little friend, oh hand puppet of mine. Let us give this racquet-yielding rogue a thorough drubbing!” But in the heat of the moment, it just comes out “Come awwwwnnnnnnnnn!”
I mean, let’s face it: Lleyton certainly does like to talk to the hand during matches. Some people say it is a valid way of pumping himself up, getting himself into “The Zone”. Others say that, especially since he trademarked this duck-puppet gesture in 2008, that it’s just another way of makin’ an honest buck. Whatever the reason, him and his hand obviously share a Very Special Bond. I don’t want to speculate too much about what goes on in the locker rooms but I expect a little stress relief might sometimes be the order of the day, especially on those days where he’s knocked out in the first round of a Grand Slam Competition. And no, I can’t believe I just wrote that either.

Lleyton shares a joke with a pal.
Of course, with all the current talk about Lleyton’s career being officially On The Nose, one can’t help but wonder what the future holds for him and his little friend… Well, here at NDM Central, I am not heartlessly deaf to his plight. In fact, I’ve even workshopped a few ideas…

Educator? Entertainer? Former-Prince-of-Pop-turned-Circus-Super-Freak?
Really, I don’t know why more people don’t come to me with their career problems. I give the best advice.
This is just another reason that I don’t follow sports; Lleyton was probably like all other jocks in high school making fun of thos “weird” drama freaks because it’s so gay to wear make-up and tights but not to talk to your hand or slap each others’ butts.
Oh and by the way; great career choices. I’m coming to you when I’m done with this stay at home thing.
I would suggest that traffic cop might be another potential occupation. As I understand it, directing traffic is really nothing more than hand gestures and the occaisional toot on a small whistle. As an added incentive to this young man, I would assume the job requires absolutely no intelligence.
Do you really provide career advice? Because I have a host of questions.
You sure ” THREW ME FOR A SIX ” and ” BOWLED ME OVER ” when you started talking sport, NDM!
This is not the NDM I look up to.
Has the world gone mad?
Photo A – it really doesn’t matter how wide you open your mouth Lleyton dear, with your hand in that position neither cake A nor B shall make it and shall only land in your eyes if indeed any cake makes it to your face.
Photo B – ‘and like i realised that i was pointing to my eyes and all the cake had fallen out… yuk yuk’