There was a further ugly development in the feud on Tuesday night when it was revealed Tomic had made a physical threat against Hewitt after their relationship deteriorated in late 2016. “Two years ago, I said ‘If he ever tries to talk to me, I’ll knock him out’,” Tomic told News Corp. It came as Ebden, who was twice overlooked for Davis Cup singles rubbers last year despite being in the top two ranked available players, voiced his belief that there were several issues that needed to be addressed about Davis Cup selection in Australia. The world No.48 was far off providing an endorsement for Hewitt to continue as Davis Cup captain. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video

“Um, I’m not sure,” Ebden told The Age. “I’ve played one tie with him on the bench. I’ve played a lot of Davis Cup with him for many years so there’s no one that’s got a greater commitment and love and passion for it than Lleyton. “I don’t know, it’s not my job to pick the captain, there’s always things for and against but it’s not my job to pick it.” Tomic was scathing of Hewitt and TA following his straight-sets loss to Marin Cilic, claiming that Hewitt favoured particular players and had “ruined the system”. When asked about the comments, Ebden admitted there were some underlying problems.

“There's clearly some issues that need to be addressed with the players and Tennis Australia, with Davis Cup and the players and the group as a whole,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, there’s definitely some issues that need to be resolved on both sides.” Loading Hewitt plans to meet with Kyrgios and Kokkinakas after the Australian Open and ahead of a tie against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Adelaide next month that is a qualifier for the new Davis Cup finals in Madrid. Tomic claimed those two players did not want to play Davis Cup under Hewitt.

"I don't think there's a rift [with Kyrgios and Kokkinakis]," Hewitt told Channel 9. "There's always communication going out between the captain, coaches and the players, and leading into the next tie that will all happen. “We've spoken before the Australian Open, we'll continue to speak after the Australian Open into the next Davis Cup tie, then we work out next week our next team moving forward for the Adelaide tie, but for me I just love being a part of helping the Australian players as much as possible." Asked about Tomic's spray, he said: "I had a bit of a laugh to be honest, especially after a loss [on Monday] night going in and complaining about a few things, so for me I just laugh it off and move forward.” Hewitt was doing his best to carry on with business as usual on Tuesday as he played a practice match at Melbourne Park alongside doubles partner John-Patrick Smith, before putting protégés Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson through their paces. Showing a sense of occasion, de Minaur trained in an Australian Davis Cup shirt. Uncommitted on Hewitt: Matthew Ebden makes a backhand return to Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in their first round match at the Australian Open on Monday. Credit:AP

Hewitt’s acceptance of a doubles wildcard at Melbourne Park, having teamed with de Minaur and Thompson in Brisbane and Sydney respectively this month, is one of Tomic’s grievances, as is his doubles appearance in a Davis Cup tie against Austria last September. Loading TA performance director and former captain Wally Masur defended Hewitt’s decision to play himself in Davis Cup last year and take up wildcards in tournaments this summer. “The rules state the captain can play. Lleyton retired from singles after 2015 but he never stopped playing doubles and he’s also in a position in Graz that we had a few players unavailable and he thought he was the best option.” “He played with Alex De Minaur and Jordan Thompson, he’s playing with JP Smith, if he can play with Alexei Popyrin there’s a real element of mentoring in that. But obviously Bernie took a bit of a shot at it in the sense he’s denying young Australians opportunities.

“I can see where Bernie’s frustration is but at the end of the day Lleyton is a worker, if you want him to work then he’ll work.” Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Relations between Hewitt and Tomic broke down in late 2016 after the former world No.1’s offer to set up a coaching and training structure for him was turned down and an invitation to a Davis Cup camp was also rejected. A year later Tomic also declined a TA offer made by Hewitt to enter the Australian Open wildcard playoff. “I was disappointed [at Tomic’s comments] because Bernie and Lleyton have a lot of history, they played together in the team and got on pretty well, Bernie then played for Lleyton,” Masur said