Razeghi proves unfazed by crowd-drawer Hewitt in Melbourne

Court 3 is one of the show-courts at Melbourne Park and seats 3,000 spectators.

Shortly after midday on Sunday it was packed to capacity for the debut of a young Australian, a wildcard, in the Australian Open Junior boys singles.

Cruz Hewitt has not followed a conventional tennis route to-date, only recently turning 15-years-old and is 201 in the world junior rankings.

The huge crowd though turned out to see him alone as his opponent, 17-year-old Alexander Razeghi, was happy to concede.

“It’s the biggest stadium and biggest crowd I have played on,” said Razegi who was brought up in Houston, Texas and brings with him that southern states politeness: ‘Yes sir’ invariably attached to the start or end of most sentences.

“I was pretty nervous coming into the match, his dad is the best Australian tennis player ever,” he said, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and all the others presumably inhabiting a realm simply too far away to contemplate. No matter, the compliment was genuine.

“It was a bit nerve wracking but once I stepped on the court I zoned out and didn’t think about the crowd too much even though they were pretty respectful rooting for their local guy.”

The support for Hewitt from a predominantly youthful crowd was all consuming. In the front row of the stands sat dad Lleyton, coaches Peter Luczak and Jaymon Crabb alongside him, current player Jordan Thompson sat over one shoulder, Lleyton's wife Bec (and Cruz’s mum) sat behind the other shoulder. Grandparents loitered nearby.

Midway through the second set, a hooded John Millman, who is just hanging up his racket as a player and a good pal of the Hewitts, appeared at one end the stadium. The younger Hewitt clocked him immediately, looking to the Queenslander throughout for assurance and approval. Millman is one of the good guys of the sport anywhere and having him in your corner cannot be understated. 

Razeghi though, with just his mum Gina on hand for support, was not fazed. 

“I travel with my mom, I don’t really have a coach on tour so I am a ‘Momma’s boy,” he said with a good dose of self deprecation.

Gina is from Texas while his father is from Germany, said Razeghi.

“Dad was my coach usually when I was growing up and then I went to the USTA national campus when I was 13 or 14 in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been there ever since. It’s helped my development with the great coaches they have there.”

The rain delays aside, he very much enjoyed his AO debut.

“I was nervous coming in and with the rain delay you start to think about stuff again and start to lose focus. I was up on both rain delays so was just trying to see what I was going to do on the next point.”

It is his first time in Australia and he is loving it, he said.

“Australia is awesome, I went to Traralgon (country Victoria) last week. I liked that place but this is just totally different with all the fans here and everything. 

“Every Grand Slam is a surreal moment. I haven’t been out much yet - will look around Melbourne on my last few days.”

Razeghi, the sixth seed, will next face the qualifier Yeonsu Jeong in the round of 32.