How Lleyton Hewitt performed on his return to tennis after five years as match lasts just 48 minutes

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Lleyton Hewitt has made a shock return to tennis at 44 years old, five years after playing his last competitive match.

Hewitt played some of the greatest players in history in his career, before retiring from singles in 2016 and subsequently doubles four years later.

While he was no longer an active player, he was still very much involved with tennis, with Hewitt being the captain of the Australian Davis Cup team for the past 10 years.

That is not his only involvement in the sport, with Hewitt’s teenage son also an active player, which is the reason he has decided to make a special return to tennis.

Lleyton Hewitt wins first match in six years as he returns to tennis

Lleyton Hewitt’s son, Cruz Hewitt, is still only 16 years old and is currently the world number 759.

Cruz made his debut in senior Grand Slam qualifying earlier this year at the Australian Open, and is now starting to play on the lower-level ATP Challenger circuit.

After losing in the second round of the singles tournament at the Sydney Challenger, Cruz still had a match to play in doubles alongside his famous dad Lleyton after the father and son duo received a wildcard.

This was Lleyton’s first match since 2020, when he lost in the first round of the Australian Open doubles alongside Jordan Thompson.

However, there were no signs of any rust, as the Hewitt pairing emphatically beat another Australian pairing of Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov, 6-1 6-0, in just 48 minutes.

Lleyton and Cruz will now advance to the quarterfinals of the Sydney Challenger, where they will play another compatriot duo of Dane Sweeny and Calum Puttergill.

Lleyton Hewitt’s biggest career achievements

While Cruz is still in the very early stages of his professional tennis career, he has a lot of expectations to live up to based on his father’s success.

Lleyton had a very successful career in both singles and doubles, winning a total of 33 career titles.

This includes winning three Grand Slam titles, with two coming in singles and the other in doubles alongside Belarusian Max Mirnyi.

Lleyton was also the last player to win Wimbledon who is not either Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray, before Carlos Alcaraz won the title in 2023.

The now 45-year-old has also won three ATP Challenger titles, and he will be looking to win his fourth in dream fashion as Lleyton and Cruz hope to continue their dream run in Sydney.