Lleyton Hewitt: 'Tomic will not play Davis Cup again while I'm in charge'
Over the last couple of days, the court action at the first Grand Slam of the season at Melbourne Park has been left in the shadow of a big feud between the Australia Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic. After the first round loss against Marin Cilic, Tomic unleashed fury towards a former world no. 1 Hewitt, saying he will not play for the national team as long as Hewitt stays in charge. Bernard doesn't understand while Lleyton is still active in doubles, often in the Davis Cup rubbers as well, and he has questioned some of the calls the captain has made in the recent years. In Tomic's words, that was especially evident in Hewitt's behavior towards Thanasi Kokkinakis who had been sidelined from the team in 2017 and failed to receive a wild card at this year's Australian Open, having to qualify to reach the main draw.
Following his first round doubles match, Lleyton Hewitt has said many bad things about the troubled player that once was the most promising Australian young gun and with whom he worked a lot in the past. Lleyton confirmed he had no contacts with Tomic for a year and a half after the blackmail threats and also physical ones he and his family were reportedly receiving from Bernard during that period. Hewitt feels disappointing after everything he has done for Bernard and Nick Kyrgios in the past and he confirmed Tomic would not be in the Australian Davis Cup squad as long as he is the captain.
"That is what we’ve come to expect from Bernie," Hewitt said. "We’re trying to set cultural standards for the Davis Cup and representing Australia. He hasn’t been close to those in the last couple of years. Since then I’ve not had anything to do with Bernie at all, he won’t play Davis Cup while I have anything to do with it. For me, the biggest frustration is I feel like I went out of my way to help Bernie, especially when I first came into the role, spent a lot of time with him one and one, and at a lot of tournaments, tried to get a coaching structure and physical team around him to give him best opportunity.
In the end, I drew a line in the sand and hadn’t spoken to him since. The threats I’ve received for me and my family, that I’ve had for a year and a half now, I don’t think anyone would reach out to him again to a person who speaks like that. It’s one clown making a silly comment and that’s the main news. We have some exceptional players doing some exceptional things here. They get one, two weeks, a year here to shine and I don’t want to take the limelight away from them. For me, I’m just disappointed. The first few years I was in this role, Bernie and Nick Kyrgios were my two priorities and to, you know, for Bernie to come out and have a go and get his facts wrong, that is the most disappointing."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2U0GbsI
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