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7 hours ago
Hewitt? Borg? There is sometimes a familiar-sounding name on a tennis tournament entry list that reminds you of a different era in the sport.
Lleyton Hewitt’s son Cruz is the latest player with a parent who has passed the racquet on to their children.
Cruz Hewitt, 16, has been given a wildcard for the qualifying event for next month’s Australian Open, an tournament where two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton was a runner-up in 2005.
Former world number one Hewitt became the youngest male player to qualify for the Australian Open in 1997, just one month before his 16th birthday.
BBC Sport takes a look at other parent-child tennis duos.
A word of warning: it might make you feel old!
Casper Ruud, son of Christian Ruud
Three-time Grand Slam runner-up Casper Ruud is the son of former Norwegian number one Christian Ruud.
Casper became the first Norwegian to win an ATP Tour title in 2020 at the Argentina Open, overtaking his father as the highest-ranked player from Norway.
After reaching the finals of the French Open and US Open two years later, Casper achieved a career-high ranking of world number two.
Casper, 25, reached the men’s singles quarter-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first Norwegian player to get to that stage.
Sebastian Korda, son of Petr Korda
In 2023 Sebastian Korda reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where 25 years earlier his father and former world number two Petr Korda won.
Sebastian, 24, has won two ATP singles titles as well as a doubles title at the 2024 Madrid Open and is ranked 23rd in the world.
He and Petr became the first father-son duo to have been ranked in the top 20 after Sebastian’s win at the Washington Open in August.
Sebastian’s sisters Nelly and Jessica are both professional golfers, with Nelly ranked number one in the world.
Leo Borg, son of Bjorn Borg
Leo Borg’s father Bjorn is one of tennis’ all-time greats, having won 11 Grand Slam singles titles and spent 109 weeks at the top of the world rankings.
Ranked 546th in the world, Leo has made just three appearances on the ATP Tour, making his debut in Stockholm, the city of his birth, in 2021.
He claimed his first win at that level two years later, beating compatriot Elias Ymer in Bastad in straight sets.
Leo, 21, also competed against Rafael Nadal in Stockholm this year, with the 22-time Grand Slam champion describing it as a “huge honour to play against the son of one of the biggest legends in the history of our sport”.
Brandon Holt, son of Tracy Austin
American Holt caused a huge shock at the 2022 US Open, ousting in-form 10th seed Taylor Fritz in the first round.
Holt, 26, had come through qualifying to reach the main draw of his home major, and the victory was his first at the top level.
His mum Tracy Austin is a two-time US Open winner, memorably beating four-time defending champion Chris Evert in 1979 to become champion aged just 16.
Holt reached the second round of the Australian Open in 2023 and has moved back into the world’s top 200 after playing on the Challenger tour.
Elizabeth Mandlik, daughter of Hana Mandlikova
Hana Mandlikova is a four-time major singles champion and is one of only 13 women in the Open era to reach the finals of all four Slams.
Mandlikova became the first US Open women’s singles winner in the Open era to have her daughter play at the same tournament when Elizabeth made her New York debut in 2022.
Mandlik, 23, won her first-round match and lost to eventual runner-up Ons Jabeur in the second.
She has won seven singles titles on the women’s ITF circuit and has a career-high ranking of 97.
Future stars?
There could well be more youngsters with tennis-star parents coming through.
Serbian former world number one Novak Djokovic’s 10-year-old son Stefan has been playing for a while. He won a club tournament a couple of years ago and has been seen hitting with his dad on Wimbledon’s practice courts.
American 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams’ eldest daughter Olympia is a natural at the sport, according to her mum – but she prefers playing golf.
Meanwhile, tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf made a conscious decision not to try to force their children into picking up the sport.
Graf – a 22-time major singles champion – said the pair had “never really introduced tennis so much in their lives”.
Agassi wrote in his autobiography Open about how strict his own father was and said in 2024: “The idea that a parent would attach a child’s right to be loved in this world based on their performance is a tragedy.
“What somebody needs to do to be pro at 16 years old is crazy, right?”
