- Aussie is currently ranked 41st for world juniors
- Displayed his famous father’s grit in recent match
Cruz Hewitt has rekindled memories of his dad Lleyton’s battling heyday as he went down fighting in his first-round contest in the boys’ event at the French Open.
The 16-year-old son of Australia’s former world No.1, who had gone through qualifying to make the event at Roland Garros, proved a handful on Sunday for Italian Pierluigi Basile, two years his senior and higher-placed in the world junior standings, before succumbing 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-3.
Hewitt lost the tightest of opening sets on a breaker and looked practically down and out as Basile served for the match at 5-3 in the second set and earned a match point at 5-4, but the Sydney youngster fought tigerishly to turn it around and take the match into a decider.
The Italian had the superior firepower but Hewitt wouldn’t lie down, revving up the the galleries packed round the tight court No.4 with the sort of crowd-rousing exhortations taken straight from his father’s book.
Ultimately, he lost in two hours 10 minutes, unable to reach the second round as he had done at the junior event in January at the Australian Open, where he also lost in the first round in the qualifiers for the senior event.
The loss marked Cruz’s grand slam return after his time at this year’s tournament in Melbourne was marked by controversy surrounding him and fellow Aussie Nick Kyrgios.
Cruz Hewitt showed the grit his dad Lleyton became famous for as he fought back strongly before crashing out of the French Open junior event on Sunday
Hewitt survived being down 5-3 in the second set, then giving his opponent match point before turning it around to take the match to a deciding set
Cruz (pictured with his famous parents Lleyton and Bec) also lost in the first round when he competed at the Australian Open earlier this year
Kyrgios was accused of harassing Hewitt over a photo the youngster posted to social media showing him posing with world No.1 Jannik Sinner, who was awaiting his punishment for breaching anti-doping rules at the time.
Kyrgios, who has been a vocal critic of Sinner, was not happy at seeing the 16-year-old with the Italian.
Kyrgios commented under Cruz’s post: ‘Love ya Cruz but this is wild’, then later adding ‘Cooked post’ with a needle emoji.
The Aussie firebrand also wrote: ‘Thought we were boys’ with several broken-heart emojis, with his comments drawing heavy fire from tennis fans and great of the game Andy Roddick.
Kyrgios later explained that he’s good friends with Cruz and his remarks were a joke between the pair.
On Monday, 16-year-old Emerson Jones, the world’s No.2 female junior, kicks off her campaign as top seed in the girls’ event against US qualifier Capucine Jauffret, while the other Australian in the boys’ tournament Ty Host will face US sixth seed Benjamin Willwerth.
Hewitt wasn’t the only son of a famous player to feature in Sunday’s program, with fifth seed Jagger Leach, whose mother is American former triple grand slam winner Lindsay Davenport, beating Kazakh Zangar Nurlanuly 6-1 1-6 6-0.
