Cruz Hewitt

Cruz Hewitt (born 11 December 2008) is an Australian professional tennis player.^[2]

Hewitt was born in Sydney, Australia on 11 December 2008 at the Royal North Shore Hospital.^[3] His father, Lleyton, is a former professional tennis player who reached the world number one ranking and won multiple Grand Slams throughout his career^[4] and his mother, Bec, was an actress and singer best known for her role on the soap opera Home and Away.^[5] In 2016, at eight years of age, Hewitt relocated to Melbourne after his father retired from professional tennis and began working at Tennis Australia's headquarters.^[6] In 2021, the Hewitt family moved to the Gold Coast in an attempt to further Cruz's tennis prospects by training at the KDV Tennis Academy with high level coaches and opposition at state-of-the-art facilities.^[7]

Hewitt entered his first ITF junior tournament a month after his 13th birthday in January 2022 when he received a wildcard entry into the J1 Traralgon qualifying draw and was defeated in straight sets by eventual quarterfinalist Daniel Verbeek 2–6, 0–6. He claimed his first junior ITF victory at a J5 Darwin tournament in May 2022 when he was victorious in a main draw first round match against Jett Grech 6–2, 6–2 before being defeated in the second round. In November 2022, still aged 13, Hewitt claimed his first junior ITF title in a Fijian J5 Lautoka tournament with victory in the final against fellow Australian Cristian Care and in doing so became the youngest male to win an ITF junior tournament in 2022.^[8]

He began 2023 by entering the qualifying draw for the Australian Open and was defeated in three sets by the number one seed Adhithya Ganesan in the first round. He won his second junior ITF title in the Virgin Islands at a J30 Christiansted tournament in May 2023 with a 6–3, 6–3 victory in the final against American Ryan Cozad. He claimed his third ITF junior title a month later with a win in a J60 Darwin tournament. Hewitt ended the 2023 season with a fourth junior ITF title in Thailand at a J60 Nonthaburi tournament with a 7–5, 6–1 final win against Russian Makar Krivoshchekov.

In January 2024, Hewitt made his junior Grand Slam debut at 15 years of age when he received a wildcard entry into the Australian Open main draw event and was defeated in the first round by sixth seeded American Alexander Razeghi 2–6, 3–6 in front of a large show court crowd.^[9] In October 2024, still aged 15, Hewitt entered the top 100 in the U18 junior rankings after claiming a seventh title at a New Zealand J100 tournament in Christchurch.^[10]

Hewitt entered his first professional tournament at 14 years of age in September 2023 when he gained direct entry into the qualifying draw of an ITF M25 tournament in Darwin and would claim third set tiebreaker victories in his first two qualifying matches, but was defeated in straight sets in the final round of qualifying.^[11] Hewitt continued to enter and unsuccessfully quaify for professional ITF tournaments over the next 12 months before receiving a wildcard entry into the main draw of an Indonesian ITF M15 event where he claimed his first professional main draw win at the age of 15 against Thijmen Loof 6–4, 6–4 in August 2024.^[12]

Hewitt will begin his 2025 season at the Canberra International after receiving a wildcard entry into the qualifying draw.^[13] He will make his senior Grand Slam debut a month after his 16th birthday at the 2025 Australian Open after being granted a wildcard into the qualifying draw.^[14] Should Hewitt qualify for the main draw of the 2025 Australian Open, he will become the youngest male player to do so since his father set the record for youngest male participant in 1997,^[15] with just 74 days separating the father and son.^[16]

• Cruz Hewitt at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Cruz Hewitt at the International Tennis Federation