Hewitt laughs off claims of rift with Aussie stars

FINCH FAILS AGAIN STORY: P46

THE rift between Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic is at flashpoint after the Gold Coast rebel taunted the former world No. 1 “to come one metre from me if he is a man”.

Unrepentant over claims Hewitt is selfish and treats players connected to a South Australian management company more favourably than others, Tomic (left) warned Hewitt to stay away.

Asked to respond to claims he had threatened grand slam champion Hewitt via email and texts, Tomic said: “Two years ago, I said ‘If he ever tries to talk to me, I’ll knock him out’.”

Tomic said he stood by claims Hewitt had “ruined the system”, marginalising Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis.

“No one likes him any more,” Tomic said after his first-round Australian Open defeat.

“He’s just doing the wrong thing.

“He’s playing Davis Cup — I thought he was retired.

“He used to hate Tennis Australia. It’s weird. And now he loves them. What’s happened here?

“But I guess he’s using them for other things and resources and … yep. And it’s for his pay cheque, yep.”

Tomic claimed he, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios “don’t want to play (Davis Cup) any more because he’s ruined the system”.

The outburst drew backing for Hewitt from John Newcombe, Todd Woodbridge and Roger Rasheed.

Pat Cash said Tomic’s comments needed to be regarded cautiously but said allegations of preferential treatment needed to be investigated.

Hewitt shrugged off the claims.

“I had a bit of a laugh, actually, it’s kind of Bernie being Bernie,” he said.

“Especially after a loss last night and going in and complaining about a few things, so, for me, I kind of just laugh it off and move forward.

“I guess the disappointing thing the Aussies had such a great day yesterday on both the men and women’s side, and it probably got overshadowed by Bernie’s comments.”

Hewitt denied he shared a rift with Kokkinakis and Kyrgios. “I don’t think there’s a rift,” he said.

“There’s always communication going on between the captain, coaches and the players, and leading into the next tie that will all happen.

“The communication, we’ve spoken before the Australian Open.

“We’ll continue to speak after the Australian Open leading into the next Davis Cup tie, then we work out, next week, our best team moving forward for the Adelaide tie.”