Grand Slam winner’s son reaches Wimbledon final but won’t see a penny | Tennis | Sport
Cruz Hewitt may have made the Wimbledon junior final, but he won’t receive a penny in prize money as a result of a cruel ruling. The son of Lleyton Hewitt stamped his place in the final of the London-based Grand Slam with a 6-4 6-4 win over Thijs Boogaard on Friday afternoon, and will take on Jordan Lee for all the marbles on Sunday, July 12, as a result.
However, the Australian talent will be playing for glory as opposed to money, as a result of being just 17 years old. As per ITF rules, junior players cannot receive prize money for taking part in competitions. And given Cruz still plays on the junior circuit, he will be ineligible for payment regardless of he wins or loses his clash against Lee this weekend.
It comes as the first time in his amateur career that Cruz has made a junior Grand Slam final, having failed to make it past the second round of the Australian Open, or the first round of the French Open and US Open in they boy’s singles. However, Cruz will soon see tournament paydays become a reaility, given he will turn 18 in December and will be eligible for event purses.
Speaking after his win on Friday, Cruz said: “I’m really happy with my performance today. Like all my matches this week, I was very level-headed, stayed pretty composed throughout that whole match, and then that allowed me to play good tennis.
“I’m so happy to be in the final. I was just happy with my my mental performance – how I kept my kept my head the whole match and stayed in the match…I was more proud of that than my tennis for me, to be honest. I’m excited to get out there [in the final]. I’ll leave it all out there.”
It comes as Cruz will hope to follow in his father’s footsteps with a legendary tennis career when he advances to the pro circuit. Lleyton retired in 2026 with an overall record of 616 wins and 262 losses in the singles game, as well as a slate of 134–112 in the doubles.
He also hung up his racket with three Grand Slam titles to his name overall, as well as two Davis Cups and Tour Finals a-piece. The now 45-year-old first made waves at the US Open in 2000, teaming up with Max Mirnyi to defeat Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach 6–4, 5–7, 7–6 in the final to taste doubles Grand Slam glory.
The Adelaide-born talent then snagged his first men’s singles Grand Slam title at the US Open the following year with a 7–6, 6–1, 6–1 win over the ever-iconic Pete Sampras. Lleyton’s third and final major title came in the form of Wimbledon in 2002, dispatching David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.
It is claimed that Lleyton wrapped up his tennis career with overall tournament earnings of £15.5million, the 33rd all-time leader in terms of earnings. Whether Cruz will go on to see smiliar success remains to be seen, but the future is certainly bright for the teenager.
