Lleyton Hewitt’s comeback to tennis at 44 with 16-year-old son ends in quarterfinal defeat in Australia

Cruz Hewitt, who was partnering his former world no 1 father, is one of three children Hewitt has with his wife, former actress Bec Hewitt.

File image of Australia's Lleyton Hewitt celebrating with compatriot John-Patrick Smith during their first round doubles match at the Australian Open in 2019. (AP Photo)

Lleyton Hewitt’s comeback from retirement as a doubles act ended in the quarter-finals of the New South Wales Open challenger tournament. The two-time Grand Slam singles champion had returned to the court with his 16-year-old son Cruz in tow. Despite the long retirement-induced layoff from tennis, Hewitt senior was good enough to power the duo to the quarters, where they eventually lost 7-5, 6-4 to Dane Sweeney and Calum Puttergill.

Cruz Hewitt is one of three children Hewitt has with his wife, former actress Bec.

Once ranked No 1 in the world in men’s singles, Hewitt had won the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002. Now 44 years old, the Australian had called time on his career nine years back in 2016. But he made a comeback initially to the doubles circuit just two years later. Since then, he has occasionally made appearances in 2019 before his last hurrah in the summer of 2020.

The five-year-long retirement notwithstanding, he had swatted away any suspicions of age and the lengthy time away from active tennis with a superlative 6-1, 6-0 victory over Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov in a match on Wednesday.

Clips circulating on social media show Hewitt working his magic on the net and volleying his way to winning points.

WATCH: Lleyton Hewitt plays a smooth volley to win comeback match

A day they’ll never forget 🇦🇺✨

Lleyton Hewitt comes out of retirement to team up with his son Cruz as they cruise to a 6-1, 6-0 debut win in Sydney!#ATPChallenger | @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/e00TkW15PE

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 19, 2025

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“It’s obviously something pretty unique and special,” the 44-year-old was quoted by tennis.com.au as saying. “It’s not too often [that the opportunity arises] and there probably will be a time where I won’t be good enough or physically able to play with him. And now he’s obviously stepped up to the mark and is good enough to play, so it sort of just crosses over nicely.”

Hewitt senior continued: “Sydney’s a pretty special place as well. Obviously Cruz was born there and we have a lot of family and friends in Sydney, but I won four Sydney International titles as well. I played the Olympics there in Sydney in 2000 when I’d just come on the tour, and I also won the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney in 2001 to get to World No.1.”