Australian Open: Cruz Hewitt challenges qualifiers against a former Top 20 player
Cruz Hewitt, son of Australian legend Lleyton, will play his first Grand Slam match on Tuesday in the Australian Open qualifying round.
Ranked 1263rd in the world at the age of 16, he was granted a wild-card by the organizers to take part in the qualifying draw.
With no experience on the ATP circuit, Hewitt inherited a complicated draw as he will face Nikoloz Basilashvili, former world No.16, finalist at Indian Wells in 2021 and winner of three ATP 500 titles (Beijing in 2018 and Hamburg in 2018 and 2019).
This will undoubtedly be a tricky leap into the big time for Hewitt, who will be trying to emulate in the footsteps of his father, who was invited to the 1997 Australian Open qualifiers when he was just 15.
At the time, Lleyton Hewitt managed to qualify, becoming the youngest player in the tournament to have achieved this feat.
The match between Cruz Hewitt and Nikoloz Basilashvili will be played on court 3 not before 11.40 a.m. local time (1.40 a.m. in France).
Tennis: the little-known truths about the offseason, between rest, stress and physical survival 
What if tennis lost its soul? The case of robotized officiating, between tradition and a dehumanized modernity 
Features - Saudi Arabia, injuries, war, and business: the fascinating underbelly of tennis revealed by TennisTemple 
Davis Cup: between reforms, criticism and national culture 