Lleyton Hewitt comes out of retirement to win father-son doubles with Cruz in Sydney

Father’s Day came early for Lleyton Hewitt, who partnered son Cruz to win an emphatic round of doubles at the 2025 NSW Open in Sydney.

A former world No. 1 and International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, Hewitt, 44, has been off tour since officially retiring in 2020—having retired from singles in 2016—while his 16-year-old son made his professional debut in 2023. Together, the father-son duo dropped just one game at the ATP Challenger tournament, defeating fellow Aussies Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov, 6-0, 6-1.

It has been a whirlwind week for the elder Hewitt, who was also inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

“Wearing the green and gold and honouring the greats who came before me has always been one of the greatest honours of my life,” he said in his acceptance speech, citing his 19-year tenure as a Davis Cup stalwart.

Since retiring, Hewitt has become Australia’s Davis Cup captain, leading the Aussies to back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023. This year, the Aussies lost a narrow 3-2 tie in qualifying to an on-fire Belgium, who are into the semifinals of the Davis Cup Finals with another upset over France.

Accepting a wild card into the Sydney Challenger in both singles and doubles, Cruz Hewitt won a round in the singles draw against former US Open junior champion Omar Jasika before losing in the second round. Still alive in doubles, the Hewitts will next face Calum Puttergill and Dane Sweeny for a spot in the semifinals.