Cruz Hewitt and Emerson Jones headlined the winners at the Australian Tennis Awards on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Held at the Palladium Ballroom at Melbourne\u2019s Crown Casino, 13 awards were presented, recognising the achievements of Australia\u2019s shining stars in 2025 from grassroots to the elite level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hewitt was awarded the Male Junior Athlete of the Year award for his breakout year. The 16-year-old competed at all four junior Grand Slams, claiming match wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Playing at those junior Grand Slams] helped a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cThe great experience with\u00a0all the crowds and the different environments and places you play at, it helped my game a lot, and I learned a lot to take it into the men’s tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jones, the Australian Pro Tour AO 2026 women\u2019s singles wildcard recipient, won Female Junior Athlete of the Year. In the second half of 2025, the 17-year-old transitioned to the professional circuit, currently ranked as high as singles world No.150. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I hit junior world No.1, it was kind of just like, \u2018I think I should move into women’s now and start focusing on that\u2019. Especially as I am getting older,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying juniors with the girls, they are great players, and they also play women’s too. The top juniors are no different to the women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Queenslander claimed the award for a second straight year after sharing the trophy with Australian women\u2019s singles No.1, Maya Joint, in 2024.<\/p>\n
Joint\u2019s coach, Chris Mahony, was also acknowledged for his efforts on Monday night, winning the Coaching Excellence \u2013 Performance Award, presented by Culture Amp, which honoured Australia\u2019s long history of elite high-performance coaches.<\/p>\n
Mahony guided Joint to her first two WTA titles in 2025, emerging victorious in Rabat and Eastbourne. The teenager rose from world No.116 at the start of the year to world No.32, surpassing Daria Kasatkina as Australia\u2019s top-ranked women\u2019s singles player.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a very consistent 12 months. You see a lot of young players have ups and downs through the course of a year on the different surfaces. Maya has been very consistent on all surfaces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Winning Eastbourne made her believe that she belonged in the top 100 even though she was well and truly there already. We saw a change in her after that tournament in the middle of the year. It took her a little bit of time because it all happened so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n