Lleyton Hewitt responds to son Cruz's staggering change as tennis legend rips $4m move

Lleyton Hewitt has joked that wife Bec must be feeding son Cruz pretty well considering his staggering growth in the last two years. He may be the son of one of Australia's greatest ever tennis players, but Cruz Hewitt is making waves of his own as a 15-year-old prodigy.

Cruz was granted a wildcard into the Australian Open junior boys tournament in January, in what marked the biggest match of his career to date. He was also selected in the Australia's junior Davis Cup team, and shadowed the senior team when they played in the group stage of the team event.

Hewitt and his son were seen practising doubles with the Aussie team in preparation for the tie. In August, the 15-year-old Cruz won the NSW Junior Open in Sydney, which was the second ITF tournament he won on the trot.

And then an image emerged of Cruz standing next to World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz, which has showed his incredible growth spurt over the last few years. Cruz incredibly stood level with the four-time grand slam winner, which was in staggering contrast to a photo the pair shared three and a half years ago.

On Thuesday, Hewitt offered an insight into his son's schedule for next year, hinting he should be competing in the Australian Open juniors tournament once again in 2025. "Most likely he'll be playing in the juniors, which is pretty awesome for him again," Hewitt said at the Australian Open launch in Melbourne.

"He got the experience of being there earlier this year, and then, yeah, to come back. And I think it's every kid's dream to play in a grand slam, but we're very fortunate being in this country, that we get it in our backyard as well."

His father has witnessed his incredible growth both on and off the court across the years as Cruz looks set to follow in his father's footsteps. And when asked about how Cruz managed to grow taller than him in the space of a few years, Hewitt couldn't help but turn to his wife Bec.

"Bec's obviously fed him well," Hewitt joked. "He's got us covered by a long way. Easily taller than me."

Lleyton Hewitt calls out $4 million Davis Cup bungle

Hewitt will captain Australia at the Davis Cup again this year with a clash against the USA in the knockout stage set for November. In Hewitt's playing days, a nation would play a home or an away leg to give the Davis Cup a different dynamic depending on what surface the home team decided would benefit their players.

These days, a destination is determined and all matches are played on the same stage. This will be hosted in Malaga, Spain this year. But next year the tournament will revert to home-and-away ties, although the seven advancing teams will then join the host nation in the finals.

Hewitt has been critical of the changes in the $4 million tournament and claimed the latest revamp doesn't necessarily change the appeal of the tournament. "The changes aren't ideal," he added. "The home-and-away factor's not (closer to what it was) and also, basically, anyone that wants to buy their way to host the final can go through the February tie and also the September tie, and go straight into the finals.

"Then there's only seven other spots left for everyone else. Yeah, I don't think it's on."

Lleyton Hewitt questions Alex de Minaur return

Unfortunately for Australia, top ranked Aussie player Alex de Mianur appears unlikely to play in the Davis Cup knockout tie against the USA. De Minaur has been battling injuries since Wimbledon and expended a lot of energy to play and reach the quarter-final of the US Open.

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And Hewitt has been speaking to de Minaur and isn't convinced he should rush back to play for his nation this year. "He's had some small niggles in the past that I guess he could better understand what he needed to do to get over it, to get back to 100 per cent as quickly as possible," Hewitt said.

"This one has been a different case, and mentally it's been more frustrating. As everyone saw, the effort that he put in in New York, for him on one leg, basically, to go out and make a quarter-final was pretty exceptional, and he's still given himself a chance of being in the Turin (ATP) Finals by doing that as well. So he's got to weigh up the priorities now as well."