Hewitt made some remarkable claims (Picture: Getty Images)

Lleyton Hewitt gave an explosive press conference on Thursday night at Melbourne Park, claiming Bernard Tomic had tried to blackmail him while sending threats to his family.

The Australia Davis Cup captain was accused of having a conflict of interest by the controversial Aussie tennis player after his round one exit in Melbourne and that he was giving preferential treatment to certain players he managed in order to pocket a slice of their first-round prize money at the majors.

‘It’s all Lleyton. I’m going to say it honestly — no one likes him anymore,’ Tomic said.

‘He’s just doing the wrong thing. He’s playing Davis Cup — I thought he was retired. He’s playing all these matches and stuff like this. You know what I mean? He used to hate Tennis Australia. It’s weird. And now he loves them. What’s happened here?


Tomic hit out at Hewitt (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

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



‘He doesn’t put Nick [Kyrgios] first, he doesn’t put [Thanasi] Kokkinakis first. He only thinks of himself.

‘You’re not playing, bro. You’re retired. Wally [Masur] was a great captain and someone that everyone liked. Don’t worry — Lleyton’s legacy and tennis speaks for itself. But what he’s doing now is wrong.’

Hewitt categorically denied he was receiving payments from Australian wildcards and said he would welcome any investigation into the comments and he remarkably revealed that Tomic had been making physical threats to him and his family.

‘That is what we’ve come to expect from Bernie,’ Hewitt said. ‘Whatever Grand Slam it is, after a first round loss he will come out with something.

‘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.

Hewitt was unimpressed (Picture: Getty Images)

‘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 on one, and at a lot of tournaments, tried to get a coaching structure and physical team around him to give him best opportunity. He still kept making the wrong mistakes.

‘For me it was probably the abuse I copped from him. In the end I drew a line in the sand and haven’t spoke to him since. He won’t play Davis Cup while I have anything to do with it.

‘The threats I’ve received for me and my family, that I’ve had for a year and half now, I don’t think anyone would reach out to him again to a person who speaks like that.’

Hewitt said the blackmail was regarding the Davis Cup, while he viewed the threats, which started a year ago, to be ’empty’, and when asked if they had stopped, he responded: ‘Yeah, I don’t think he has my number hopefully anymore.’

Tomic is a controversial character (Picture: /AFP/Getty)

Hewitt admitted he was most frustrated by how the incident had overshadowed the achievments of other Australians at their home Slam and labelled Tomic a ‘clown’.



‘The most disappointing thing is on Day 1 we had all these great wins by a lot of our guys and all these Bernie comments overshadow it,’ he added.

‘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 really 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.

Kyrgios does have a way back (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I don’t know why Bernie’s Bernie. I have no idea. It’s probably his upbringing.’

While Hewitt has given up hope on Tomic – who he said would take about five years to get into the shape required to compete with the world’s best – he offered Nick Kyrgios a glimmer of hope of getting back into the Davis Cup team, although he confessed he was falling short of the ‘cultural standards’ he required.

‘I’ve spoken to Nick and we continue to speak,’ he added. ‘You have to have standards. All I want guys to do is commit to the sport and work hard and want to play for Australia.’