Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt will be returning to the tennis circuit at the upcoming Sydney Challenger to join his son, 16-year-old Cruz, in the doubles draw. It’s been five years since Hewitt retired from doubles, and almost a decade since he ended his singles career. But the two-time Major winner has now been awarded a wildcard alongside his son.
Teenager Cruz has followed in his father’s footsteps, pursuing a career in professional tennis. Currently ranked at No. 818 in the world, the 16-year-old received a wildcard into the Australian Open qualifying draw earlier this year. He’s also competed at junior Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, where he lost his cool with his dad.
The father-and-son duo are now set to team up at the Sydney Challenger, where they face another all-Australian team in Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov.
It will be Hewitt’s first match in almost six years, after he teamed up with Jordan Thompson and lost in the first round of the men’s doubles event at the 2020 Australian Open.
Cruz has also been given a wildcard into the singles draw, where he faces countryman and current world No. 311 Omar Jasika. The teenager will be hoping to build on his recent form after earning his first win at Challenger level in Brisbane on Tuesday, beating world No. 192 James McCabe before losing to WuTung-lin in three sets in the second round.
The world No. 818 has been making strides after appearing at the junior Grand Slams this year. He reached the second round of the boys’ singles event at Wimbledon, but snapped at his dad during his loss to Oskari Paldanius.
Cruz suffered a 6-3 6-0 defeat to the Finnish No. 11 seed while Hewitt watched on in the front row. According to the Daily Mail, the teenager accused his dad of “acting for the cameras” and shook his head while Hewitt attempted to give him some advice.
After receiving more pointers, Cruz replied: “I tried that!” And while trailing 0-3 in the second set, while his team tried to support him, the 16-year-old said: “It’s not fine, it’s nearly four-love!”
A few days earlier, after beating Savva Rybkin in the first round, Cruz admitted it was great to have his dad in his corner and explained that he’d always wanted to compete at Wimbledon after watching former champion Hewitt play at the All England Club. Now, they’ll have the chance to join forces a little closer to home.