Cruz Hewitt shows dad's fighting spirit in marathon loss at French Open

7NEWS

3 days ago

Cruz Hewitt has rekindled memories of his dad Lleyton's battling heyday as he went down fighting in his first-round contest in the boys' event at the French Open.
The 16-year-old son of Australia's former world No.1, who had gone through qualifying to make the event at Roland Garros, proved a handful on Sunday for Italian Pierluigi Basile, two years his senior and higher-placed in the world junior standings, before succumbing 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-3.
Hewitt lost the tightest of opening sets on a breaker and looked practically down and out as Basile served for the match at 5-3 in the second set and earned a match point at 5-4, but the Sydney youngster fought tigerishly to turn it around and take the match into a decider.
The Italian had the superior firepower but Hewitt wouldn't lie down, revving up the the galleries packed round the tight court No.4 with the sort of crowd-rousing exhortations taken straight from his father's book.
Ultimately, he lost in two hours 10 minutes, unable to reach the second round as he had done at the junior event in January at the Australian Open, where he also lost in the first round in the qualifiers for the senior event.
On Monday, 16-year-old Emerson Jones, the world's No.2 female junior, kicks off her campaign as top seed in the girls' event against US qualifier Capucine Jauffret, while the other Australian in the boys' tournament Ty Host will face US sixth seed Benjamin Willwerth.
Hewitt wasn't the only son of a famous player to feature in Sunday's program, with fifth seed Jagger Leach, whose mother is American former triple grand slam winner Lindsay Davenport, beating Kazakh Zangar Nurlanuly 6-1 1-6 6-0.
Golden memories driving Aussie doubles pair in Paris
Whatever happens in the rest of their distinguished tennis careers, Matt Ebden and John Peers swear they'll always have Paris...
But back in the City of Light, the veteran Australian doubles duo are still adamant that, even if their Olympic triumph in the French capital will for them forever be impossible to top, they still haven't given up on adding more grand slams to their distinguished resumes.
Starting right here, back at the perfect Roland Garros clay courts where they still get a tingle when thinking about that glorious day on Court Philippe Chatrier last August when they became only the second Australian Olympic tennis champions in Games annals.
'It still is the place for us. And that's the great thing, forever more it will be the place,' Ebden said as the pair reminisced about their great day in an interview with AAP.
'It's always good to come back to a place where you've had success, and for Matt and I, it'll always be amazing coming back here, no matter how many years pass,' added Peers.
The veteran duo - Peers is 36 and Ebden 37 - have so far negotiated two rounds on their return to Roland Garros as the 15th-seeded pair and they'll next face Italian fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori on Monday.
Both matches were on outside courts, and the pair still haven't ventured back to Chatrier to revisit their finest hour when they beat Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the Olympic gold medal match.
'You've got to earn your way back up there to Chatrier. Yeah, we've got to fight, fight, fight through,' smiled Ebden.
Their one-off Olympic victory proved the precursor to the pair, who are great friends and live just a few kilometres away from each other in Perth, deciding to make a go of it this season as a full-time partnership on the tour.
'I had a long-term partner for the last two years (Rohan Bopanna) that was probably going to come to the end, at the end of last year, so was then going to look for a partner for this year,' explained Ebden.
'John had a bit of a partnership going late last year (with Jamie Murray) and when we spoke at the end of the year, the timing wasn't quite right.
'So we started the year with different people and then, funnily, teamed up again at Davis Cup again, so we put in more practice there, won our match there and practised together at home.
'And we thought maybe we should take this on to the tour and and have a crack and since Indian Wells (in March) we've been fighting through together.'
They've not had the greatest results so far, scuppered by some tough draws, but as two of the top doubles players of their generation and half-a-dozen grand slam doubles triumphs between them, they're convinced it will click.
They're having a good time too as two mates whose families are close too.
'Always nice travelling with someone who gets it,' said Peers. 'Matt and I both have kids, and we understand what it's like being away from home when they're on the road with us ... and it's always nice having a mate by your side.'
The ambition is still there too.
'We want to see how many more Masters and slams we can win, basically until, well, who knows how long we've got left,' says Ebden.
'Is it one year? Is it seven years? Or somewhere in between? I dunno how long. Parts of me and my body feel like I can play another 10 years, other parts feel like I would be happy to retire! So honestly, I don't know, but hopefully a few more years at least. Let's see - one year at a time.'
But is there another grand slam there for the Olympic champs?
'For sure,' declared Ebden, while Peers nods: 'That's what we're going for, we're not here to make up numbers - we're here to go deep and win.'