Lleyton Hewitt in surprise tennis return, teams with son Cruz Hewitt in doubles at Sydney Challenger

The rising Aussie Cruz Hewitt has got his dad out of retirement of sorts as Lleyton Hewitt will be in doubles action during the Sydney Challenger tomorrow for the first time in five years.

Hewitt last played in doubles during the 2020 Australian Open when he teamed with Jordan Thompson. They were an on off partnership which ended at the 2020 Australian Open which is when he was last seen on court.

He teamed with a variety of top names mainly Aussies including Alex Bolt, Nick Kyrgios, a young Alex de Minaur and John Patrick Smith albeit he didn't win many games during his time on the doubles circuit. This after he called time on his career in 2016 losing to David Ferrer in the singles at the Australian Open 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in favour of the Spaniard.

He has played exhibition tennis at times being only 44 now including Tie-Break Tens in 2018 when he faced both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

"I left nothing in the locker room. My whole career I've given 100%," said the 34-year-old Australian on retiring. "I love coming out here and competing. I've been so fortunate to have that opportunity 20 years in a row."

"Playing for Australia has always been my biggest honour," added Hewitt. "I feel honoured to have had this support and this love from this crowd. It means so much for me.

"I've had so much success in big matches on this court and I feel fortunate to finish here. It's the perfect place to finish."

But he has remained in the limelight since retiring with the former US Open and Wimbledon champion being fined recently for pushing a doping official. He has long been the captain of the Davis Cup team and with them not qualifying for Bologna, he has some time off so is supporting his son Cruz.

He is playing Challengers back home ahead of a likely run towards the Australian Open where he will hope to get some semblance of wildcards. He beat James McCabe in his opener last week in Brisbane before losing to Wu Tung-Lin. He faces Omar Jasika in the Sydney Challenger today but perhaps more intriguing is that he's got his dad out of retirement to play doubles.

A bit of a coup for the tournament, he will team with his son for the first time to face Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov in what is likely to be a bit of a bucket list moment for the legendary Aussie after retiring long before he started his career which has been one of fits and starts so far. High expectation as expected has been placed on him so it's been intriguing how he's dealt with it albeit having such a legendary player can no doubt be good for advice.