Aussie legends pick Tomic apart over stunning Hewitt swipe

Todd Woodbridge and Roger Rasheed have both blasted Bernard Tomic over his rant about Lleyton Hewitt.

Tomic launched an astonishing broadside at Hewitt on his way out of the Australian Open, accusing the Davis Cup captain of splitting Australia’s playing ranks.

Tomic was defeated 6-2 6-4 7-6 (7-3) by world No.7 Marin Cilic on Monday night on his return to the tournament, a year after losing in qualifying for his home grand slam.

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He then closed the door on a Davis Cup return under Hewitt and exposed deep rifts among Australian players.

“No one likes him any more,” Tomic said of Hewitt.

“We have a lot of issues that not a lot of players are happy about. We all know who those players are. Myself, (Thanasi) Kokkinakis, (Nick) Kyrgios.”

Kokkinakis, who defeated Roger Federer in an injury-ravaged 2018, was overlooked for a wildcard at the 2019 tournament in favour of Alexei Popyrin, Marc Polmans and Alex Bolt.

Tomic alleged that Hewitt’s promotion of Open debutant Polmans, the world No.169, and Bolt, who has at played three majors without winning a match, was improper.

“He used to hate Tennis Australia, it’s weird. Now he loves them. What’s happened here?” he said.

“All these guys that got wildcards are under a system … Polmans, Bolty, Jordan Thompson.

“They’re all under his Lleyton’s wing under the management company. It’s all conflict of interest.

“And then he’s in Davis Cup and he’s doing the wrong thing and everyone’s leaving.

“Lleyton’s legacy and his tennis speaks for itself. He’s an unbelievable champion. But what he’s doing now is wrong.

“I hope he gets moved and we can go back to having a good captain.”

Hewitt and Tennis Australia have been approached for comment on the allegations.

‘Pot shots’ not warranted

Ex-coach Rasheed defended Hewitt’s management of the national team, saying he had the right to steer it as he wished.

“It’s like a coach of a football team,” Rasheed told Big Sports Breakfast.

“There are always going to be players that actually love the coach. There is going to be a few players, if they’re not getting a game and they think they should be getting a game, they’ll actually have different feelings for the coach.”

He said the “pot shots” were not warranted as Hewitt had given so much to the sport, advising Tomic to “put his head down” and focus on his fitness to play day in day out on the tour.

Deflecting blame?

Woodbridge said Tomic’s comments were a ploy to blame someone else for his poor form.

“One of the most disappointing things here is it’s become his habit of deflecting a loss and deflecting what work he does to try to get better as a tennis player,” Woodbridge told 3AW Radio.

“Lleyton copped it last night. The last one that copped it, at Wimbledon a couple of years ago, was Pat Rafter.

“Now, I’ve been in spaces in development that have been around Bernie and I can promise you that myself, Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt – who have all got a wealth of experience in this game, both as players and dealing with media and trying to help our next generation – have given him enormous amounts of our personal time.

“I’ve been away from my family and kids, as Pat Rafter did, as Lleyton Hewitt has, to enhance Bernard’s career. So it’s time he actually used some of the things that we’ve given him, the tools, and try to just get his tennis back on track.

“Last night was a poor attempt to deflect that he hasn’t been doing that.”