viktorkwan
Rookie
An interesting report today in the Sydney Morning Herald...
DETAILS have emerged of a rift between former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt and his Australian heir apparent Bernard Tomic following a practice snub at Wimbledon.
Hewitt and Tomic have not spoken since the incident, confirmed yesterday by Hewitt's manager David Drysdale and considered by a furious Hewitt to be a lack of respect.
Tennis Australia's tennis director Craig Tiley said yesterday he was aware that Tomic's father, John, who recently asked TA to spend vast sums on his son, had declined the practice invitation on his son's behalf on Wimbledon's middle Sunday, as Hewitt prepared for his fourth-round match and Tomic to contest the junior event.
But it has been neither forgotten nor forgiven, with Drysdale describing as ''interesting'' any scenario in which the pair was selected in the Davis Cup squad for Australia's first tie next year.
''I don't think Bernard should expect much from Lleyton, that's for sure,'' Drysdale said. ''To say that we were less than impressed would be an understatement.''
As Team Hewitt tells it, several phone calls were made to Tomic, his father and an IMG agent on the Saturday evening, asking if Tomic would hit at 1pm the following day.
There was no response, but the 16-year-old was present when Hewitt arrived to practise, his physiotherapist Ivan Gutierrez making the approach to the Tomic entourage.
''We turned up and saw the Tomics around and we thought, 'Oh, maybe they got our message, and they were there to hit with Lleyton','' Drysdale said, ''so Ivan went over to Bernard's trainer at the time, Rudy [Sopko] and said 'Is Bernard here to hit?'. Rudy knew nothing of it but said 'Look, Bernard's looking for a practice partner and I think Bernard would like to do it', but then the agent came in and said, 'No, he's not hitting with Lleyton, Lleyton's not good enough'.
''They were his words: 'Lleyton's not good enough' and we just about dropped on the spot. We were pretty dumbfounded. Lleyton just could not believe it, and the more he thought about it the angrier he got about it.''
Salting the wound was a subsequent conversation with Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero at courtside. ''Ivan asked if he was available to practise at one o'clock and Juan Carlos said, 'No, no, I've got a practice partner, but that young Australian kid Tomic, he just came and asked me to hit, why don't you ask him?','' Drysdale said.
''Then we told Juan Carlos what had happened and his coach said that if a leading player in Spain asked a junior to practise and the junior said no, that he would never get to hit with a senior player again, they would make sure he had all his funding and support from the national federation cut and that he would be, in the coach's words, 'strung up from a tree by his balls'.''
Tomic's agent, Lawrence Frankopan, denied one of his colleagues had denigrated Hewitt and stressed the dual grand slam champion had been an inspiration to his Davis Cup squadmate.
''We've been in the industry for 50 years, so the idea that an IMG
agent would say that a multiple grand slam champion was not good enough to hit with a 16-year-old, that's just ridiculous. It's laughable,'' Frankopan said.
''The situation was that, one, Bernard has the most respect for Lleyton and is the reason why Bernard became a tennis player. And, two, from what I understand that the kid he was playing the next day had a different style to Lleyton and Team Tomic felt that by playing Lleyton it wasn't beneficial for the next day's match. Not that he did not want to hit with Lleyton Hewitt … they just felt that it wasn't beneficial, and that's just a call from the coach and from the tennis team that is around Bernard.''
Drysdale said they had taken up the matter with Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald, who was apparently told by John Tomic, among other things, that Hewitt should previously have ''done more'' for his son.
''That's absolutely ridiculous, but it was the manner in which they went about it,'' Drysdale said. ''I know it's John Tomic who made the decision; we can't completely penalise Bernard for it. I think maybe if Bernard was there by himself Bernard would have done it, and I hope that [new Davis Cup coach] Todd Woodbridge can sort all this out …''
DETAILS have emerged of a rift between former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt and his Australian heir apparent Bernard Tomic following a practice snub at Wimbledon.
Hewitt and Tomic have not spoken since the incident, confirmed yesterday by Hewitt's manager David Drysdale and considered by a furious Hewitt to be a lack of respect.
Tennis Australia's tennis director Craig Tiley said yesterday he was aware that Tomic's father, John, who recently asked TA to spend vast sums on his son, had declined the practice invitation on his son's behalf on Wimbledon's middle Sunday, as Hewitt prepared for his fourth-round match and Tomic to contest the junior event.
But it has been neither forgotten nor forgiven, with Drysdale describing as ''interesting'' any scenario in which the pair was selected in the Davis Cup squad for Australia's first tie next year.
''I don't think Bernard should expect much from Lleyton, that's for sure,'' Drysdale said. ''To say that we were less than impressed would be an understatement.''
As Team Hewitt tells it, several phone calls were made to Tomic, his father and an IMG agent on the Saturday evening, asking if Tomic would hit at 1pm the following day.
There was no response, but the 16-year-old was present when Hewitt arrived to practise, his physiotherapist Ivan Gutierrez making the approach to the Tomic entourage.
''We turned up and saw the Tomics around and we thought, 'Oh, maybe they got our message, and they were there to hit with Lleyton','' Drysdale said, ''so Ivan went over to Bernard's trainer at the time, Rudy [Sopko] and said 'Is Bernard here to hit?'. Rudy knew nothing of it but said 'Look, Bernard's looking for a practice partner and I think Bernard would like to do it', but then the agent came in and said, 'No, he's not hitting with Lleyton, Lleyton's not good enough'.
''They were his words: 'Lleyton's not good enough' and we just about dropped on the spot. We were pretty dumbfounded. Lleyton just could not believe it, and the more he thought about it the angrier he got about it.''
Salting the wound was a subsequent conversation with Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero at courtside. ''Ivan asked if he was available to practise at one o'clock and Juan Carlos said, 'No, no, I've got a practice partner, but that young Australian kid Tomic, he just came and asked me to hit, why don't you ask him?','' Drysdale said.
''Then we told Juan Carlos what had happened and his coach said that if a leading player in Spain asked a junior to practise and the junior said no, that he would never get to hit with a senior player again, they would make sure he had all his funding and support from the national federation cut and that he would be, in the coach's words, 'strung up from a tree by his balls'.''
Tomic's agent, Lawrence Frankopan, denied one of his colleagues had denigrated Hewitt and stressed the dual grand slam champion had been an inspiration to his Davis Cup squadmate.
''We've been in the industry for 50 years, so the idea that an IMG
agent would say that a multiple grand slam champion was not good enough to hit with a 16-year-old, that's just ridiculous. It's laughable,'' Frankopan said.
''The situation was that, one, Bernard has the most respect for Lleyton and is the reason why Bernard became a tennis player. And, two, from what I understand that the kid he was playing the next day had a different style to Lleyton and Team Tomic felt that by playing Lleyton it wasn't beneficial for the next day's match. Not that he did not want to hit with Lleyton Hewitt … they just felt that it wasn't beneficial, and that's just a call from the coach and from the tennis team that is around Bernard.''
Drysdale said they had taken up the matter with Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald, who was apparently told by John Tomic, among other things, that Hewitt should previously have ''done more'' for his son.
''That's absolutely ridiculous, but it was the manner in which they went about it,'' Drysdale said. ''I know it's John Tomic who made the decision; we can't completely penalise Bernard for it. I think maybe if Bernard was there by himself Bernard would have done it, and I hope that [new Davis Cup coach] Todd Woodbridge can sort all this out …''
because he's better
