Australian Lleyton Hewitt is confident he can give 15th seed Andy Roddick a run for his money when the two clash in a blockbuster second-round match on Thursday.
Hewitt, who turns 31 in February, needed just under four hours to beat German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in an epic four-set match on Tuesday night.
While the former world No.1 said he hadn't thought about Roddick yet, the prospect was always in the back of his mind.
"Obviously when the draw came out, I knew that Andy was a possibility," he said.
"But, you know, I haven't played that much matches, so all my focus was on this guy."
"I knew absolutely nothing about him really going into tonight."
"Obviously it's not quite the case with Andy now. Don't really have to ask around too much to find out what Andy's strengths and weaknesses are."
"I'll give him a good run. See what happens."
Hewitt won six of the first seven meetings between the two, but hasn't tasted victory since 2005 with Roddick winning the past six matches.
Despite the American having the recent wood over him and being ranked over 150 places higher, Hewitt believes it's anyone's match and said it could come down to just a couple of points either way.
"You know, he's obviously a quality player. A couple of those matches have been extremely tight," he said.
"Obviously, the Grand Slam at Wimbledon could have gone either way, fifth set."
"Played him a couple times at Memphis, won the first set and lost three in tight three-setters there, as well."
"Just haven't been able to get those one or two points against him when I needed them."
Hewitt also offered sympathy to compatriot Sam Stosur, who failed on the big stage once again earlier on Tuesday when she was beaten in straight sets by Sorana Cirstea.
Hewitt has never been troubled carrying the hopes of a nation and thrives on the home crowd support, but the same cannot be said of Stosur.
"Yeah, it's tough, I guess. I don't know. I don't know if there's a secret to it, though," Hewitt said.
"I think some people - you know, you look at a guy like (Bernard) Tomic obviously, and he thrives in that situation."
"I think that I've enjoyed obviously playing Davis Cup. It's very hard once I guess the snowball sort of keeps building, the pressure and expectations get more and more, it's a hard thing to turn around."
"There's no doubt Sam hasn't - you know, for the last probably three years I played her in the Hopman Cup in Perth, three or four years ago now."
"I think she's played her best tennis for sure since then when she was really a top-10 player."