Tennis Australia crowns its future: Cruz Hewitt & Maya Joint take Junior Athletes of the Year

Tennis Australia hosted its annual awards ceremony this week at the Palladium Ballroom at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, celebrating the standout performances of the 2025 season. A total of 13 awards were presented to recognize the highest-level achievements within the Australian tennis community.

Among the night's highlights, the organization honored the best local junior talents: "young gun" Cruz Hewitt—son of former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt—took home the honors on the men’s side, while teenage sensation Emerson Jones was recognized on the women’s side.

Sixteen-year-old Cruz Hewitt was named Male Junior Athlete of the Year. He competed in all four junior Grand Slams this season, securing victories at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. “[Playing at those junior Grand Slams] helped a lot,” Hewitt said. “The great experience with all the crowds and the different environments and places you play at, it helped my game a lot, and I learned a lot to take it into the men's tournaments.”

The teenager earned a wildcard into the Australian Open qualifiers at the start of the 2025 season, where he fell in the first round to former Indian Wells runner-up Nikoloz Basilashvili. However, by November—just a month ago—he secured his first ATP victory at the Brisbane Challenger, defeating world No. 192 James McCabe.

Recently, Cruz also teamed up with his father, Lleyton Hewitt, who came out of retirement to play doubles at the Sydney Pro Tour. The duo debuted with a win at Ken Rosewall Arena before bowing out in the quarterfinals.

The biggest breakout star of the year was Emerson Jones, who was awarded Female Junior Athlete of the Year. The former junior No. 1 experienced explosive growth in 2025, starting the year at world No. 118 and finishing the season at No. 32, establishing herself as Australia’s top-ranked woman.

According to the season recap, the 19-year-old claimed two WTA titles this year: one on clay in Marrakech (defeating the experienced Jaqueline Cristian) and another on grass at the Eastbourne International (overcoming Filipino star Alexandra Eala). “As soon as I hit junior world No.1, it was kind of just like, ‘I think I should move into women's now and start focusing on that’. Especially as I am getting older,” Jones said after receiving her award. “Playing juniors with the girls, they are great players, and they also play women's too. The top juniors are no different to the women.”

Jones’ success is also attributed to her coach, Chris Mahony, who was honored on the night with the Coaching Excellence – Performance award. “She had a very consistent 12 months,” Mahony commented. “You see a lot of young players have ups and downs through the course of a year on the different surfaces. [She] has been very consistent on all surfaces.”

The night’s highest honor, the Newcombe Medal, went to Alex de Minaur. This prestigious award recognizes the elite player with the most outstanding performance of the season who also reflects the integrity and sportsmanship of an ambassador for the sport. This marks the fourth time De Minaur has won the medal, and his third consecutive win (2019, 2023, 2024, 2025).

“I would like to thank - first of all John Newcombe himself. It’s an incredible honour to receive this medal. Thank you to everyone involved with an incredible event,” De Minaur said. “It's been a great year. I'm very proud of everything that I've achieved. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to do it without an incredible team around me that continuously pushed me very hard to continue to try and achieve and get the most out of myself.”

John Newcombe praised De Minaur during the ceremony: “It’s been an interesting ride for Alex. Just watching him, he’s gradually kept up the pressure, creeping up the rankings and now he’s in the top 10, every year it’s a better performance.”