Lleyton Hewitt, son Cruz on Gold Coast for KDV junior slam tennis

The future of Australian tennis has been on show with Lleyton Hewitt and son Cruz on the Gold Coast for junior tournament aced by a Gold Coast youngster.

LLEYTON Hewitt’s son Cruz has plenty of his father’s trademark grit if a marathon junior tennis match on the Gold Coast is any indicator.

Hewitt Junior, 10, also dished out a few ‘C’mon!” shouts too in his quarter-final of the KDV Sport Junior Slam at Carrara yesterday, watched on by his dad and grandparents.

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Lleyton Hewitt cheered on his son Cruz Hewitt. Pic Mike Batterham

But despite the game featuring 11 deuces it wasn’t to be for Cruz this tournament.

Gold Coast-based Cody Atkinson took out the two-hour, 40 minute marathon match 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to chalk up a memorable experience beating the son of Australian tennis royalty.

And it meant plenty. Reinforcing that these boys are still just boys, Cruz shed a few tears after the hard-fought match.

“It’s great to see such great tennis, and they were both so passionate about it,” Cody’s dad Jamie Atkinson said of the two 10-year-olds.

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Cruz Hewitt played hard at Carrara. Pic Mike Batterham

“It won’t be the last time these boys play each other.”

Mr Atkinson moved his family to the Gold Coast from Wellington, New Zealand around two years ago and now is the head tennis coach at Trinity Grammar.

“We moved out here for Cody’s tennis, but also for a lifestyle change,” he said. “There’s so much more opportunity here for tennis, and the weather means we hardly ever get rained out for training or tournaments - unlike Wellington.”

Cody trains under Queens Park Tennis Centre owner John Birrell - father of Australian pro Kim Birrell - and spends nine hours a week on the court and is “incredibly driven and focused” according to his Dad.

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Jamie Atkinson and His son Cody Atkinson who won the tournament on the Gold Coast. Pic Mike Batterham

Cody said he wanted to pursue professional tennis and follow in the footsteps of idol Novak Djokovic.

“I got to do the coin toss at the Australian Open this year with Novak and (Kei) Nishikori,” he said, earning the right after being selected in a Queensland representative squad which travelled to Melbourne to compete against other states.

Cody admitted to being nervous when the Hewitts, who normally live in Melbourne, came to watch his pool match on Saturday afternoon, but he said he just had to “get over it” when he played him.

His gladiatorial battle against Cruz was the big match of the day, with Cody going on to ace his semi 6-2, 6-1 before winning the tournament final 6-3, 7-6 against Jack White.