He called Tomic a "clown" and said he did not want anything to do with him. "We're trying to set cultural standards for the Davis Cup and representing Australia. He hasn't really been close to those for in the last couple of years," Hewitt told reporters. He was responding to Tomic's claims this week that Hewitt had ruined the national system and "no one likes him any more".
The former world No.1 said Tomic had attempted to blackmail him by demanding wildcard and threatening to refuse to play Davis Cup, saying their once-close relationship was over. "I think the threats that I have received for me and my family, that I've had for a year-and-a-half now, I don't think anyone would reach out to a person that speaks like that," he said.
Asked what sort of threats, he replied: "They were blackmail threats and physical."
"For me the biggest frustration is that I feel like I really went out of my way to help Bernie, especially when I first came into the role (as Davis Cup captain)," he added.
"At the end of the day he still kept making the same mistakes, For me, it was probably the abuse that I copped from him that in the end I drew a line in the sand, and I haven't spoken to him since.