Sydney, Australia, 19 November 2013 | AAP

Lleyton Hewitt’s motivation levels remain as high as ever on the 13th anniversary of his rise to world No.1 at just 20 years and eight months back in 2000.

Hewitt turns 33 in February yet is refusing to completely give up on his seemingly impossible dream of winning the Australian Open.

“With the right draw and a bit of luck, you never know,” he said.

“Obviously those top couple of guys, Rafa (Nadal) and Novak are the two main guys for sure and don’t count Roger and Andy Murray and (Juan Martin) del Potro and (Tomas) Berdych and these guys out either.

“But it would be nice to go under the radar.”

Buoyed by his vintage run to the last 16 of the US Open in September, Hewitt still considers himself Australia’s premier player – despite being ranked 10 spots below Bernard Tomic after another stop-start season.

“Bernard is obviously the next best player,” Hewitt said.

“(But) he’s got to make the next transition now from 50 in the world to top 20 and hopefully top 10 and be a potential Grand Slam winner.”