Aussie legend and former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt sees surprise doubles return with son Cruz Hewitt end in close defeat

Lleyton Hewitt won't be continuing his late sojourn back into tennis after he was defeated alongside his son Cruz Hewitt in the Quarter-Finals of the New South Wales Open challenger this past Thursday.

Hewitt surprised fans by playing his first match in around five years since he finally hung up the doubles racquet after retiring from singles back in 2016. Hewitt who won the US Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002 is now 44 and combined with his son Cruz likely in a bit of a dream scenario knowing that he had the chance to play with his son.

They beat Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov 6-1, 6-0 in a match on Wednesday but then faced Dane Sweeney and Calum Puttergill in the Quarter-Finals narrowly losing out to the team in two sets 7-5, 6-4 in favour of the winners.

It was also a time for Hewitt to complete this feat with Australia not playing Davis Cup Finals this week meaning he wasn't in Europe anyway so was back home in Australia. Whether he tries to play Australian Open knowing he could get a wildcard remains to be seen.

But he has at least ticked that box now with his son. He did speak to the press this week though including about Bernard Tomic admitting himself that he doesn't know why he is still playing.

But he tipped his hat to the Aussie despite thinking it is a tad bizarre saying that it takes guts to go to where he has gone to and still managing to get on court and show up.

“It’s a hard one – I don’t think anyone fully knows,” Hewitt told The Australian.

“I’m not sure if he doesn’t know what else to do, or if he still feels he has some unfinished business. It’s a tough one, but you’ve got to take your hat off to him in terms of the places he’s gone to, and the tournaments that he’s been playing the last few years, compared to where he was at centre stage and playing the big names.

“He’s still going out there and having a crack. He doesn’t mind playing on backcourts. I spoke to him a couple of times this week, and I don’t know what his plans are.”