SUSPENSION FOR HEWITT
Former doubles champion Bob Hewitt has been suspended from the International Tennis Hall of Fame after an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused girls he coached, and his legacy has been stripped from the institution. The Hall executive committee voted unanimously this week to suspend Hewitt indefinitely after an outside investigation deemed credible the allegations of multiple women who said they were abused by Hewitt while he was coaching them decades ago, Hall CEO Mark Stenning said. The Australian-born Hewitt won 15 Grand Slam doubles titles in the 1960s and 1970s and was inducted into the Hall in 1992. No one has ever been suspended or expelled from the Hall. Stenning said the committee did not consider expulsion because it was believed that would require a criminal conviction. Hewitt, who is 72 and lives in South Africa, also was permanently removed from the South African Sport and Arts Hall of Fame.
DRUGS BATTLE DETAILED
Australian 10-metre platform diver Matt Mitcham says he battled a methamphetamine addiction in 2011 that almost derailed his career and his life but the 2008 Beijing gold medallist will be free to compete on future Australian Olympic teams. In a book to be released tomorrow Twists and Turns, Mitcham reveals his battle with low self-esteem, anxiety and depression, panic attacks and repeated self-harm as a teenager, which helped begin his dependence on crystal meth. After winning the 10-metre gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, Mitcham failed to make the final 12 at the London Games this year. Mitcham said that even after his Beijing gold medal win, he was still ranked No 2, so he turned to drugs because ‘‘I had still failed to achieve my childhood dream of becoming the best in the world at something’’.
VETTEL HOT ON NEW TRACK
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel drove his first laps around the new Circuit of the Americas at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, yesterday and, judging by the times he posted, he rather enjoyed it. Vettel, who leads Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by 10