Cruz Hewitt has been selected to make his debut for Australia in the Junior Davis Cup, following in the team tennis footsteps of his illustrious dad Lleyton.
Hewitt senior is the captain of the senior Davis Cup squad in the 'World Cup of tennis' event that has long been one of the favourite parts of his sporting life - and the man who won the Cup twice as a player will be proud his talented 15-year-old son is now carrying on the tradition.
The New South Wales youngster Cruz, the ITF's 226th ranked junior, will don the green and gold for the first time after earlier this year making his grand slam debut in the Australian Open boys' singles.
Twenty-seven years after Hewitt senior had become the youngest qualifier to make the Open main draw at just 15, Cruz lost on his first appearance at Melbourne Park.
Hewitt be playing alongside 16-year-old West Australian Cameron Burton and 15-year-old South Australian Jeffrey Strydom at the Asia-Oceania qualifying event in Kazakhstan from May 20-25.
The top four nations in the qualifier will advance to November’s finals.
The team will be captained by Sandon Stolle, the former world No.2 doubles player who was himself the son of a famous tennis dad, Fred Stolle, the two-time grand slam winner.
“I look forward to taking my first Junior Davis Cup team away and to continue supporting our high performing athletes,” said Stolle, Tennis Australia’s National Development Squad Coach in South Australia.
“It’s a great experience for these young guys to play for Australia and be part of the green and gold history of tennis.”
The competition is for teams featuring players 16-and-under takes place after a qualifier for the equivalent event for girls, the Junior Billie Jean King Cup, at the same Shymkent venue next week.
The Australian Junior BJK Cup team is 14-year-old Renee Alame (NSW), Ava Beck (15, Victoria) and Tahlia Kokkinis (15, Queensland) and will be captained by Jessica Moore, who played in the senior competition for Australia.
