Hewitt accuses Tomic of ‘blackmail threats’
Lleyton Hewitt accused Bernard Tomic of blackmail and physical threats against him and his family in explosive allegations on Thursday as Australian tennis plunged to new lows.
The veteran two-time grand slam champion said Tomic would never again feature in Davis Cup while he captained the Australian team.
He called Tomic a “clown” and said he did not want anything to do with him.
“We’re trying to set cultural standards for the Davis Cup and representing Australia.
“He hasn’t really been close to those for in the last couple of years,” Hewitt told reporters on the fourth day of the Australian Open.
He was responding to Tomic’s claims this week that Hewitt had ruined the national system and “no one likes him any more”. The former world No 1 said Tomic had attempted to blackmail him by demanding a wildcard and threatening to refuse to play Davis Cup, saying their once-close relationship was over.
“I think the threats that I have received for me and my family, that I’ve had for a year-and-ahalf now, I don’t think anyone would reach out to a person that speaks like that,” he said.
Asked what sort of threats, he replied: “They were blackmail threats and physical.
“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 [as Davis Cup captain].
“At the end of the day he still kept making the same mistakes, For me, it was probably the abuse that I copped from him that in the end I drew a line in the sand, and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
Meanwhile on court on Thursday, women’s world No 1 Simona Halep survived a scare before reaching the third round.
The Romanian top seed, who also struggled in her opening match at Melbourne Park, downed American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 after two-and-ahalf hours to set up a meeting with seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams.
Halep, who has just returned to action from a back injury, said she was hopeful the longer time on court would help her.
“These matches are good for me at the beginning of the year to get the rhythm, to get the energy back, to see that I am able to stay there for two hours, more than two hours,” she said.
“It’s never easy to play long matches. I will try to recover. I will try to relax a little bit, then to think about the third round.”
Serena Williams, bidding for an eighth Australian Open title, was an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 victor over Eugenie Bouchard.
In the men’s draw, world No 1 Novak Djokovic was too strong for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as he cruised to a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win.
No 4 seed Alexander Zverev had looked as if he would sail through to the third round when he won the first two sets against Jeremy Chardy.
But the Frenchman fought back to force a decider before the German finally prevailed 7-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7, 6-1.
However, an injury forced Dominic Thiem out of the tournament as he retired when trailing by two sets and a break to the Australian teenager Alexei Popyrin.