Lleyton Hewitt got here out of retirement to group up along with his 16-year-old son Cruz on the Sydney Challenger, and the daddy/son duo claimed a formidable 6-1 6-0 win over Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov in simply 48 minutes of play.
Hewitt, who performed his final singles match on the 2016 Australian Open, continued to often play doubles till 2020. However after selecting up a first-round defeat with Jordan Thompson at Melbourne Park in 2020, the previous two-time Grand Slam champion determined to ditch taking part in doubles as properly.
That was till at this time, when Hewitt returned to the court docket at his house event in Sydney after being awarded a doubles wildcard. Enjoying along with his son Cruz – who’s ranked at No. 759 in singles and No. 881 in doubles – the previous world No. 1 confirmed no indicators of rustiness as he and the 16-year-old astonishingly gained 11 video games in a row from 1-1 within the first set to destroy one other Australian duo, Jones and Marinkov.
The Hewitt duo gained 83 p.c of their first serve factors, transformed 5 of six of their break level probabilities, and likewise saved all 4 break factors they confronted. Within the Sydney doubles quarterfinal, their subsequent rivals will probably be Australia's Callum Puttergill and Dane Sweeny.
Hewitt on teaming up along with his son Cruz
“It’s clearly one thing fairly distinctive and particular. It’s not too typically [that the opportunity arises] and there most likely will probably be a time the place I gained't be adequate or bodily capable of play with him. And now he's clearly stepped up to speed and is nice sufficient to play, so it kind of simply crosses over properly," the previous world No. 1 advised Tennis Australia simply earlier than their opening match.
“Sydney’s a fairly particular place as properly. Clearly Cruz was born there and we now have quite a lot of household and buddies in Sydney, however I gained 4 Sydney Worldwide titles as properly. I performed the Olympics there in 2000 once I'd simply come on the tour, and I additionally gained the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney in 2001 to get to world No.1.”
