Lleyton Hewitt has sensationally accused his fellow tennis star Bernard Tomic of blackmailing him and making threats against him and his family during a televised press conference.
Just days after Tomic, 26, accused the 37-year-old Davis Cup captain of returning to the game for financial gain, Hewitt has hit back with a series of shocking allegations in his own speech, published by several news outlets on social media – branding his fellow tennis star a “clown”.
From claiming Tomic has levelled a series of threats (some physical) against him and his family over the last 18 months, to alleging Tomic blackmailed him by threatening not to play the Davis Cup, Hewitt held little back in his answers to reporters.
“It was probably the abuse I copped,” Hewitt said in the press conference. “In the end I drew a line in the sand. He won’t play Davis Cup while I have anything to do with it.”
Hewitt added: “I just think threats that I’ve received for me and my family – that I’ve had for a year and a half now – I don’t think that anyone would reach out to a person that speaks like that.”
When asked whether he had received physical threats, Hewitt replied: “Both. Blackmail threats and physical.”
And when asked by reporters to specify the nature of the blackmail, Hewitt claimed Tomic had threatened not to play the Davis Cup.
Elsewhere, Hewitt expressed sadness that his efforts to help and guide Tomic in the past had apparently gone unnoticed.
“We are trying to set cultural standards for the Davis Cup and representing Australia,” Hewitt added. “He has not really been close to those in the last couple of years and since then, I haven’t had anything to do with Bernie at all.
“For me, the biggest frustration is that I feel like I really went out of my way to help Bernie, especially when I first came into the role. I spent a lot of time with him one-on-one at a lot of tournaments and tried to get a coaching structure and physical team around him to give him the best opportunity.”
It comes after Tomic himself used his exiting press conference with the media on Monday to slam Hewitt.
“It’s all Lleyton. I’m going to say it honestly – no one likes him anymore,” he told reporters in a video published by 7 News. “He’s just doing the wrong thing. He’s playing Davis Cup. I thought he retired.
“He’s playing all these matches and stuff like this. You know what I mean? I did a little bit of work with him a couple of years ago. He used to hate Tennis Australia. It’s weird. And now he loves them. What’s happened here?”
He accused Hewitt of using Tennis Australia for other things and for a pay cheque and said other players including Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios didn’t want to play anymore because Hewitt has “ruined the system”.
“Go away, like literally, if he’s retired, why are you still in tennis?” he continued. “Why do you still play these doubles tournaments and stuff?
“Bolty, Polmans, all of these guys – they’re under his wing, so they get a percentage of that. So it’s conflicts of interest. I think it’s terrible. Isn’t that right or wrong?”