Lleyton Hewitt will use his fierce competitive instincts to return to the top of the game, according to his compatriot Chris Guccione.

Hewitt, 27, started his campaign for a record fifth Queen's Club title with a comfortable win over British wildcard Josh Goodall on Monday, while Guccione battled through to the second round after a tough 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory against Yen-Hsun Lu.

But it was Hewitt's gutsy decision to play the grass-court season even though he is suffering with a hip injury that moved Guccione to pay tribute to the former Wimbledon and US Open champion.

"When I think of Lleyton fighting spirit and a great competitor come to mind," Guccione said. "Once he gets on the court, he wants nothing but to win. It's a great quality.

"I think he's definitely a lot better than his ranking suggests at the moment.

"He's still ranked I think 30 or 35 at the moment. I don't think he's close to being done. Hopefully he can get right back up there."

Hewitt's ruthless desire for success hasn't always made the Australian one of the best loved players on the ATP Tour.

Many put that down to the pressure of being far and away Australia's top player for so long, but Guccione insists Hewitt is one of the game's nice guys.

"I assume it's pretty difficult, all the pressure of always being up there. I think he's handled it very well during his career," Guccione said.

"I know him quite well now and he's a great guy off the court. He's just really friendly, very down to earth.

"He's great to all the younger guys, helps them where he can, hitting practice and stuff like that. Just really supportive, very friendly to all of us."

Guccione highlighted Hewitt's decision to pay for the flying transport of a cystic fibrosis sufferer recently as the more empathetic side of the Australian.

"He flew him down to Townsville. He had a hit with all the guys. I had a hit with him for about 15 minutes. It was good fun and great to see Lleyton getting involved in that sort of stuff," Guccione added.

AFP