KEY POINTS:
It could be made into a movie one day. It would be a tale of intrigue, controversy, love, triumph, celebrity, shattered dreams, conflict and wealth - and that's without the scriptwriters taking liberties with the facts.
Lleyton Hewitt is Australia's version of David Beckham and his life has
been one big soap opera - much like his wife's former occupation, you could say.
It was somewhat appropriate, then, that controversy struck yet again on the eve of the first Grand Slam event of the year, the Australian Open, which starts tomorrow.
His coach of three-and-a-half years, Roger Rasheed, resigned suddenly after being subjected to yet more courtside abuse by Hewitt during the world No 19's exit to Russian Igor Kunitsyn at last week's Adelaide Open.
Australian reports suggest the pair had a row in the locker room after the match, prompting Rasheed to sever ties with his charge.
Hours later, Hewitt pulled out of the Sydney International with a torn calf muscle, casting doubt on whether he would be fit for the Australian Open. He seems, though, to be over that.
It also came soon after Hewitt sacked his business manager. Perhaps more significantly, however, is his impending departure from the world's top 20 for the first time in eight years.
The fact Hewitt is the only Australian male ranked in the world's top 100 (Mark Philippoussis is 112) adds pressure from an Australian public desperate for a home-grown men's winner at Melbourne for the first time since 1976. Hewitt is their only hope but his chances have never looked more slender.
Scott Draper, the former Australian tennis professional who became a professional golfer, has stepped into the void left by Rasheed after former two-time US Open champion Pat Rafter turned down the job.
It's a curious friendship, considering Hewitt is one of the most abrasive figures on the men's tour and Draper one of the most amiable.
But it's a relationship that dates back to 1998 when a little-known 16-year-old, ranked 550th in the world, toppled the 58th-ranked Draper on his way to winning the first of his 25 career titles.
In these troubled times, Draper's role is more friend and motivator.
"Lleyton is probably the best competitor I have ever seen and that is his greatest strength," Draper said last week.
"If we can instil into him that he is the best competitor out there, anything is possible."
Rasheed is not the first coach to walk out on Hewitt.
Darren Cahill quit, citing regular abuse after guiding Hewitt to the world No 1 ranking and it was a factor in Jason Stoltenberg's exit from Camp Hewitt.
His intense demeanour, often characterised by his catchcry of "come on" in the best traditions of Rocky Balboa, has won him fans as well as detractors.
In 2000, soon after he hit back at spectators who heckled him during a match in his home town of Adelaide, readers of Australian magazine Inside Sport rated Hewitt Australia's least-admired sportsperson.
He also raised the ire of Argentinian fans, and Diego Maradona in particular, during a heated Davis Cup tie there in 2005.
In January 2006, he was voted in a survey conducted by GQ magazine as the 10th most-hated athlete in the US.
He was the only non-US athlete to make the list but the seed might have been planted in Americans at the 2001 US Open, when Hewitt complained to an umpire about a black line judge when playing black American James Blake - inferring that Blake was getting preferential treatment.
Although Hewitt claims to hate having his private life exposed in the media, his marriage in 2005 to former Home And Away actress Bec Cartwright made this inevitable. And his actions are not those of a man who wants to protect his privacy.
He and Cartwright sold their wedding and engagement stories to New Idea and his wife now writes a diary for Woman's Day, in which she tells the world about things like the 'baby crisis' she experienced when caught unprepared by baby Mia delivering a messy No 2 while out shopping.
The bigger crisis, though, is Hewitt's tennis career. It is nearly five years since he claimed the second of his two major titles and his win at Queens last June was his first in 18 months.
He's been beset by injuries that have seen him play little since September and, through 2006, he often looked tentative.
However, he is in the friendlier side of the draw - no Federer and Nadal won't meet him until quarter-finals although there is still Andy Murray (UK), James Blake (USA) and Nikolai Davydenko (Russia) to pass.
"It is hard to put your finger on what has been holding him back but he just hasn't been playing like Lleyton can play," said seven-time Grand Slam winner John Newcombe. "It is pretty obvious to everyone he is playing not to lose and not playing to win. At that level, you are just not going to beat anyone."
If he can and triumphs in Melbourne, it would add another great segment to the movie script.