Crash and Bern as Hewitt rift widens
Tomic threatens former No.1 after his first-round defeat
THE stoush between Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic is at a 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 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 that he, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios “don’t want to play (Davis Cup) anymore because he’s ruined the system”.
The outburst drew backing for Hewitt from Todd Wood- bridge, Sam Smith and excoach Roger Rasheed.
“One of the most disappointing things here is it’s become (Tomic’s) habit of deflecting a loss and deflecting what work he does to try to get better as a tennis player,” Woodbridge told 3AW.
Smith said Tomic needed to go away, practise and win some matches.
“He’s being very disrespectful to a two-time grand slam winner, somebody who has achieved an amazing amount in the game.”
Pat Cash said Tomic’s comments needed to be regarded cautiously but that allegations of preferential treatment needed to be investigated.
“Maybe there’s a grain of truth into this, maybe there’s more than a grain of truth,” Cash said. “I think Bernie might have just opened a can of worms here.”
Hewitt shrugged off Tomic’s claims.
“I had a bit of a laugh actually, it’s kind of Bernie being Bernie,” Hewitt said.
“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. “There’s always communication going on between the captain, coaches and the players, and leading into the next tie that will all happen,” he said.
Townsville’s John-patrick Smith will share the limelight with Hewitt tomorrow as the pair begin their Australian Open doubles campaign against Wesley Koolhof and Marcus Daniell.
TWO YEARS AGO, I SAID, ‘IF HE EVER TRIES TO TALK TO ME, I’LL KNOCK HIM OUT’
BERNARD TOMIC