Lleyton Hewitt out of retirement to partner Alex de Minaur in Portugal

While Nick Kyrgios recovers from an elbow injury, two of our highest profile players are due to make comebacks next week.

Lleyton Hewitt will come out of retirement to partner Alex de Minaur in Portugal next week. Picture: AAP.

While Australia’s leading man Nick Kyrgios recovers from an elbow injury in Canberra, two of our highest profile players are due to make unlikely comebacks next week.

Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt will come out of retirement to play doubles with emerging talent Alex de Minaur in Portugal, adding an Australian star factor to a tournament where Kyrgios is popular.

The dual-grand slam champion has been in Melbourne this week and has kept sharp practising with the likes of de Minaur and Kyrgios during Davis Cup campaigns in his role as Australian captain.

The 37-year-old starred when partnering recent retiree Sam Groth in his final Australian Open in January, with the pair reaching the quarter-finals of the doubles in Hewitt’s cameo.

He was also forced to play a Davis Cup doubles rubber in March, 2016, after Kyrgios fell ill prior to the World Group tie at Kooyong, despite announcing his retirement at the Australian Open two months earlier.

De Minaur reached the semi-finals of the Brisbane International and the final of the Sydney International a week later in an outstanding start to the season.

The teenager then showed outstanding fight when, on his Davis Cup debut in Brisbane in February, he pushed German star Alexander Zverev to a fifth set tie-breaker in the opening rubber despite battling an abdominal injury.

The 19-year-old sits fifth in the race to qualify for the lucrative eight-player Next Gen championships to be played in Milan later this year.

Melburnian Marc Polmans, who has performed extremely well in lower-tier tournaments this year, currently sits in eighth position among a talented group including Zverev, Francis Tiafoe, Denis Shapovalov and Stafanos Tsitsipas.

The 20-year-old has reached the quarter-finals of a Challenger tournament being played in Tallahassee on green clay this week.

Bernard Tomic. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Meanwhile, there are reports that fallen star Bernard Tomic has received a wildcard into an ATP Tour event to be played in Istanbul next week.

The 25-year-old has slumped to 191 in the world and has not played since falling in a Challenger tournament in France when resuming after failing to qualify for the Australian Open.

The Queenslander will be forced to play qualifying for the French Open, regardless of how he fares if gifted a start next week.

The 114th ranked de Minaur is in the prime position to receive Australia’s reciprocal wildcard into the French Open, though there is a chance he might sneak in on his own volition if there is a swag of withdrawals.