Cruz Hewitt, the 14-year-old son of 42-year-old retired Australian tennis legend and 2-time Grand Slam Champion Lleyton Hewitt, achieved a milestone in his development as a tennis player.
He earned his first professional match win in the qualifying rounds of the Darwin Tennis International.
Cruz defeated 25-year-old Brian Tran.
He followed it up with a second-round win over 21-year-old Jerome Iaconi before losing in the third round of qualifiers to 24-year-old Jesse Delaney.
Cruz bears a very strong resemblance to his father.
C’MON! 🇦🇺
14-year-old Cruz Hewitt casually ripping it 🤩#ITFWorldTennisTour | @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/wHj2uoDHRR
— ITF (@ITFTennis) May 11, 2023
He has competed on the junior circuit.
13-year-old Cruz Hewitt (ITF Jr. #1223), son of Hall of Famer @LleytonHewitt, wins his first ITF juniors title as he beats 17-yo top seed Cristian Care (ITF Jr. #408) 2-6 7-5 3-0 ret. in the final of the J5 Lautoka in Fiji.
For comparison, papa Lleyton won his first title at 16. pic.twitter.com/iOQa94muId
— Parsa (@Parsa_Nemati) November 4, 2022
Cruz spent the summer training at Rafael Nadal’s Tennis Academy in Mallorca, Spain.
His face is familiar to us 🤗!
And the way he plays tennis… 🇦🇺💪🏼!
Welcome Cruz Hewitt! VAMOS‼️ pic.twitter.com/UzxdDawtv4
— Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar (@rnadalacademy) July 24, 2023
Lleyton did not push tennis on his son at a young age and was only interested in Cruz enjoying himself as he learned the game.
It’s 8:23 pm, The practice courts at Indian Wells are empty except for one where Lleyton Hewitt is hitting ball after ball to a 9-year-old with long blond hair held in place by a backwards ball cap. Hewitt’s son Cruz.
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) March 10, 2018
Cruz has been around his dad at tournaments and at Davis Cup so he is very familiar with the scene.
The future 🇦🇺
Cruz Hewitt is practically a #DavisCup veteran 😀 pic.twitter.com/XqqtYwLOef
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) March 4, 2022
His future looks bright, but in the meantime, he is working hard at his game and being a typical teenager in the process.
Asked what his takeaways were from his first professional win, Cruz said:
“I’m pretty stoked on getting that win because I had to come from behind. I was fired up to be honest … It’s cool getting to go to different places like here (Darwin) and it’s a lot of fun, but I came here to test myself at this level against some older players and see how I go….I also get to miss school today because I won, so that’s even better.”
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