Category: Tennis

• 16-year-old is one of Australia’s most highly rated juniors
• Bernard Tomic also among local players given wildcards

Cruz Hewitt, the teenage son of tennis great Lleyton Hewitt, has received a wildcard for the Australian Open qualifying tournament as he pushes for a grand slam debut. Hewitt, 16, will attempt to reach the main draw for the first time 28 years after his father debuted at Melbourne Park as a 15-year-old.

The junior world No 107 debuted in the junior competition last year and was knocked out in the first round. One of Australia’s most highly rated juniors, Hewitt is expected to feature in the junior tournament again but will look to step up his transition to senior tennis in 2025.

• Former bitter rivals are now firm friends
• Kyrgios has played just one ATP match since 2022 US Open

Nick Kyrgios will team up with Novak Djokovic at the Brisbane International after crediting the former world No1 for motivating his return from serious injury. Once bitter rivals but now firm friends, Kyrgios and Djokovic plan to play doubles at the Queensland tournament, which gets under way on 29 December.

The pair will use the event to warm up for next month’s Australian Open, with Kyrgios using an injury-protected ranking to secure a direct entry at Melbourne Park. The Australian posted the announcement on Instagram, using a photo of himself and Djokovic walking on to court ahead for their 2022 Wimbledon final which he lost in four sets, writing “Doubles at Brisbane. See y’all there”.

British player has had time to reflect and wants to embrace enjoyment on and off the court in 2025

Emma Raducanu arrived in South Korea this September determined to end a complicated season with a strong Asian swing, her favourite time of year. She had started well, winning two matches at the Korea Open, only to suffer an all-too-familiar setback. Raducanu retired from her quarter-final match in Seoul with a foot injury that would sideline her until the final week of the season.

That layoff would prove to be a significant moment in Raducanu’s continued development. During her time off, she visited her grandmother in China, brushed up on her Mandarin Chinese, and she also flexed her creative muscles. Most importantly, however, another enforced layoff also gave her time to reflect frankly on the decisions she has made in her young career.

• Thanasi Kokkinakis tips doubles partner to impress in Melbourne
• Former world No 13 to play first singles grand slam event since 2022

With his weapon of a serve in hand, tennis showman Nick Kyrgios can hit the ground running on his Australian Open return, says doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Kyrgios, 29, who has had a horror run of wrist and knee injuries, will play at the Brisbane International from 29 December, before returning to the grand slam stage at Melbourne Park for the Australian Open which starts on 12 January. The former world No 13 is using a protected ranking for his first Open since he pulled out on the eve of his first-round match in 2023.

• All England Club’s proposals approved in September
• Development has already met with local opposition

Wimbledon is going to court in a bid to try and head off a potential threat to its expansion plans.

The All-England Club was granted planning permission by the Greater London Authority in September to build 39 new courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, on the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club across the road from its current site. The plans will nearly triple the size of the venue but have proved controversial, with vociferous opposition from some local residents.

Former tennis player Jelena Dokic tells the National Press Club about her experience with anxiety, depression, PTSD and an eating disorder and says that in sport, 'silence was golden' – and this silence could lead to death. As a victim of domestic violence herself, Dokic argues that having open conversation about stigmatised topics is an antidote to this. 'Vulnerability is a superpower. We have been taught so often that vulnerability is a weakness, a massive weakness. But in fact, to be vulnerable takes so much guts and courage,' says Dokic

• Jelena Dokic: ‘I was a woman with nothing to aspire to, no goals and dreams left’

• British player adds Yutaka Nakamura to her team
• ‘I can become one of the best athletes in tennis’

Emma Raducanu believes she can fulfil her potential of becoming one of the best athletes in her sport after hiring the esteemed strength and conditioning coach Yutaka Nakamura on a full-time basis before the 2025 season.

“I think he is going to help me just really explore how far I can go athletically,” said Raducanu. “It’s a big strength of mine that I have nowhere near fulfilled. I think I can become one of the best athletes out there in tennis and I’m just looking forward to seeing how much I can do. And I think he’s really going to help with that. The way I’m working with him and Nick [Cavaday, her coach], it’s a lot more integrated.”

• Fans favourite is one of 10 Australian men in main draw
• Olivia Gadecki is the only direct women’s entrant

Fan favourite Nick Kyrgios will play his first grand slam tournament since 2022 at the Australian Open in January.

Organisers announced on Friday that Kyrgios, who has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, will use a protected ranking of No 21 to gain entry to the main draw.

• Fraser oversaw four Davis Cup triumphs between 1973 and 1986
• He won three grand slam singles and 16 doubles titles as a player

Australian tennis is mourning the loss of legendary player and Davis Cup captain Neale Fraser AO, MBE. Fraser, who won 19 grand slam titles, has died aged 91.

For all his grand slam glory, Fraser’s name will forever be associated with the Davis Cup both as a player and in a record-setting run as Australian captain.

British men’s No 1 reflects on his best year on tour, including a first slam semi-final but also some controversy

Deep inside the Vienna Ice Skating Club, an enormous ice rink temporarily adapted into indoor tennis courts in October, Jack Draper was hard at work before one of his final tournaments of the season. His sparring partner for the day was Frances Tiafoe, a fellow top-20 player well known for his humour even in the searing heat of battle. As they toiled through practice sets, the American kept on reacting to their spectacular winners by glancing down the court, each time trying to catch his opponent’s eye so that he could crack another joke.

Draper, however, had other priorities. The British No 1 was completely locked in, focused only on extracting the best out of himself in their limited time on court. He played some brutal, attacking tennis in the process and after an hour of great intensity, their practice ended with Draper leading by a set.

• Serb wanted someone who had played at the very top
• Djokovic confident he is still fit enough to win more slams

Novak Djokovic has revealed Andy Murray was caught off guard when asked to be his new coach, but feels the link-up can only be good for tennis.

Murray retired after this summer’s Olympics at the age of 37 after finally admitting defeat in his battle against injury. It had been suggested the Scot would one day return to tennis and become a coach, due to his love of the sport, hard work and tactical acumen.

• Halep was given four-year ban in 2022, later reduced
• World No 2 Swiatek given one-month ban for violation

Simona Halep questioned the “big difference” in how doping cases are treated after world No 2 Iga Swiatek was handed a one-month drugs ban while the Romanian was out of action for more than 18 months following two separate anti-doping violations.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Thursday that Swiatek had accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ).