he's been a former world number one and winner of two grand slam singles titles would you please take a look at the career of Leon huitt at the age of 17 when you were planning for college Leighton huitt was thrashing the greats and snatching the biggest titles in tennis but behind all this he was hiding the true self that could potentially take him from a superstar to an underdog in tennis let's uncover the true secrets of Leighton hwit together Leighton was born on Feb 24 1981 in Adelaide his father played football and his mother used to be a professional netball but his paths were different he started training for tennis from an early age little did his parents know that their kid would turn into this big of a tennis sensation in January 1997 when he made his debut in the Australian Open he was the youngest ever to be qualified in the history of the tournament his sheer determination and hard work led him to win his first ATP title in his hometown when he was just 16 years of age in an age where everyone is figuring out what to study for college he was this tennis sensation who took Everyone by surprise he won two major Grand Slams throughout his amazing career he became the youngest player at the age of just 20 years old to come at the top of the ATP rankings he confirmed it it wasn't just mere luck by retaining his top ranking for more than one and a half years his relentlessness and hard work have made him the best player at the start of the 21st century his shots made his opponents fearful of him he was a ruthless competitor who was sending the message that he would do anything to win but despite all the success he was getting he was hiding some dark secrets about his life that he didn't want anyone to know and today we will tell you those dark truths that every tennis fan has been waiting to know since the start of his career we will be discovering the lives of your favorite tennis players in the coming videos make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on them we got a glimpse of what huitt is like during one of his matches in the US Open in 2001 he was playing James Black who was an African-American player tennis matches are very high stakes and this can cause intense emotions of anger and frustration if things don't go the way players like them to go and this is what we saw there as well he won the first set but lost the second one he was on track to lose another set as well when the linesmen called him foot faulted he accepted it and continued to play he started to lose more rallies in that set which made him even frustrated anger was started to build up in his mind but then the linesman who was black called him for footfall again that frustration of losing the sets and getting fouled made his anger even worse and he spit all of it on the linesmen he pointed to the linesman and then to his opponent saying look at him and tell me what the similarity is huitt said I want him off the court I've only been foot faled at one end look at what he's done this incident made his fans angry they started to accuse him of racism and wanted him to apologize for his bad behavior despite all the noise huitt defended himself claiming there was nothing racial set out there his opponent also chose to forgive me claiming he might have said something because of the heat of the situation rather than something that was genuinely racist but this was not the only time he was accused of something in 2016 BuzzFeed reported that 15 players in the main draw of the Australian Open were accused of match fixing and huitt was one of them their report suggested that LT had regularly lost matches where betting odds shifted dramatically and he had potentially fixed those matches but he again denied those allegations calling them absurd he also got support from other players saying that he was far too wealthy to have done anything like that and so that news also vanished Into Thin Air hair surely he had some bad things going on in life this is what makes us human but he was a great Superstar tennis who had achieved what many others would dream of he was a master player a young Prodigy who got Fame very early due to his determination and hard work in 1997 when he qualified for the Australian Open he was just 15 years old becoming the youngest ever to play the sport he didn't win the tournament that year but in the coming year he upset Andre aasi and became the third youngest player to win the ATP singles title he was a rising sensation willing to do anything to become the best in this game of high odds he had reached 22 in the world rankings at the end of 1999 he also had helped Australia win the Davis Cup that year that year his paths crossed with Beck cartright in a charity match though both were teenage ERS little did they know she would become his wife they didn't start dating until 2005 they were just 6 weeks into the process of knowing each other when they finally decided to tie the knot and get married she was a rising actress and he was a great tennis star it was a perfect match that made everyone happy but in 2000 he was just at the beginning when he won four singles titles in a calendar year the year that followed he reached the peak of his powers the following year in 2001 he was at the very peak of his powers he finally reached the number one spot in the rankings that year and was the first Australian to claim the top spot in the tennis rankings he was the youngest coming in first position at just 20 years of age his biggest success that year was finally winning a Grand Slam in the US Open when he reached the final he had to face PE Sampras who was also in his Peak power at that time but it did not affect him huitt defeated him by winning three straight giving him no time to breathe this win was a testament to his wonderful ball controlling ability in a world where everyone hates the person who made you lose the final his opponent couldn't stop him from praising his performance in the final that year was by far the best year in his career the following year didn't have a great start but then he managed to get a 15 match winning streak that helped him to win a few singles titles he also won his ATP Masters title that year but the biggest thing that came for him that year was winning the crown jewel of all Grand Slams when he finally won the prestigious Wimbledon his greatness was witnessed by everyone when he finally defeated Argentina's David nalbandian to win The Wimbledon he thrashed him by winning three straight sets he ruled the court that day and didn't let his opponent get close to him whatsoever one of his greatest victories was defeating Roger Federer in the final of the Davis Cup in 2003 and taking Australia to another Glory but in the later years his performance started to plummet he reached the quarterfinals in the grand slams and also the final in Wimbledon but wasn't able to win any of them he continued to win a few small titles in later years but wasn't able to get any major hold on in the grand slams so in 2016 after putting on the best show he finally decided to take on retirement his Farewell came on his home soil while playing Australian Open where he consecutively lost three sets in a row though he lost that game the crowd was standing and giving him the Applause he deserved for his fantastic career this moment was bittersweet for his fans who watched him from a young kid to a big Superstar but all the good things must come to an end just like this video I have got plenty of more stories about your favorite tennis players but they will come at the right time that's why you should hit that subscribe button so you don't miss when that video comes out in the meantime tell me in the comments which player would you want to see in the next video