The attraction of each Grand Slam tournament is not only seeing the best personalities on the circuit, but also discovering new promise, usually with… Having mentor children. And the The 2024 Australian Junior Open will not be the exception.
This year at Melbourne Park there will be two sons of the former world number one. It's about Cruz Hewitt, son of Layton 15 years, and Jagger Leach by Lindsay Davenport. Both will be in the men's team and will steal the show in the tournament.
In 2021, The Australian son was crowned champion for under 12 years in Australia Without conceding any set in their five matches. “So proud to take home the national clay title. Had a great week in Canberra #claydog,” said the youngster at the time, who was already starting to show his talent.
Some time later, when Cruz won his first U14 boys' singles match at the prestigious Orange Bowl Youth Championship, his father spoke about it in an interview with News Corp: “(Cruz) has improved a lot in the last two years.”. “He performed very well to win on clay and did not lose a set in the singles, which is good for him,” he added.
It is worth noting that in other editions of the Australian Open, there have been tennis players who became champions and then became stars over the years. Some of them were: Andy Roddick (2000); Gael Monfils (2004); Nick Kyrgios (2013), Alexander Zverev (2014), and Sebastian Korda (2018).
On this seventh day of action at Melbourne Park, the junior team will start. Three preliminary rounds will be played before reaching the quarter-finals. The first seed and favorite is Italian Federico Senna.
All Australian Open events can be enjoyed through Star+.
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