Lleyton Hewitt says Australian tennis is struggling. Is he right?

September 21, 2026 — 5:00am

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Lleyton Hewitt says Australian tennis is struggling.

The man who oversees the country’s development and performance pathway begs to differ – but would welcome more involvement from the former world No.1.

Australia’s indifferent results on the global, and particularly grand slam, stage are again in the spotlight after Hewitt’s frank comments on Friday ahead of a rare Davis Cup tie in Brisbane against Poland.

Alexei Popyrin’s dramatic fall from grace, on top of ranking tumbles from Maya Joint and Daria Kasatkina, means top-10 star and seven-time major quarter-finalist Alex de Minaur is Australia’s sole player in the top 50 on the men’s and women’s side.

That figure trails the other grand slam nations – France (six), Great Britain (two) and United States (15) – with the asterisk that Australia’s population is far smaller, and it is much further away from the heart of the tour.

Hewitt was the last Australian man to win a grand slam singles title in 2002, but the US (Andy Roddick in 2003) and France (Yannick Noah in 1983) are also enduring significant droughts.

“We’re struggling at the moment,” Hewitt said.

“There’s no doubt about that, just with the numbers coming through,........

© Brisbane Times