Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Wednesday December 18, 2024 at 2:58 p.m.
At 16, Cruz Hewitt, 107th in the junior rankings, received an invitation to participate in the qualifiers for the Australian Open. He will try to imitate his father Lleyton, a former world number 1 who started in Melbourne 28 years ago.
He has already surpassed his illustrious father. Obviously not in the rankings, but in size, since Cruz Hewitt (16 years old) is now a few centimeters taller than Lleyton Hewitt (43 years old), who stands at 1.78 m. But this great hope of Australian tennis is already behind his father, who reached the big table in Melbourne when he was only 15 years old. Cruz Hewitt is not there yet, but, like Simona Halep among the ladies, he received an invitation for qualifying from the organizers of the Australian Open on Wednesday, a week after his 16th birthday.
The inevitable game of comparisons
If he will also participate in the junior tournament, from which he was eliminated from the start last year, the offspring of the former world number one will therefore try to follow in the footsteps of his father, double Grand Slam winner, at the US Open and Wimbledon, and finalist at home in an Australian Major where he holds the record for consecutive appearances (20). And he inevitably does not escape the comparisons with the current captain of the Australian Davis Cup team.
“A little more power” than his father
“It’s like that. But it doesn’t bother me. It just pushes me to become better. I’ve seen a few (of his father’s exploits, editor’s note). Only the big matches. But I think we “We have a different style of play,” explained the 107th in the world in the junior rankings, during the Australian tennis awards evening, at which his father was also present. “The comparisons? They started as soon as he picked up a racket, confided Lleyton Hewitt, reports the AAP. He just has to make the most of it and have fun with it. But he’s doing it very well so far. ” He also believes that his son has “a little more power” than him, and that “the road is still long.” And Hewitt senior knows something about it…
