Bernard Tomic reputation almost irretrievable now after latest mess involving Lleyton Hewitt, says Jess Halloran

In 2009 Bernard Tomic’s manager vowed his client wouldn’t turn into Lleyton Hewitt. Back then Hewitt well and truly held the ‘tennis bad boy title’. It’s funny how things sometimes turn out.

• FEUD: Hewitt calls out Tomic for abuse, threats

• LIAR: Tomic hits back at Hewitt allegations

A decade ago I interviewed a 15-year-old tennis prodigy.

His name was Bernard Tomic, and his then manager confided that he didn’t want this kid to be loathed by regular punters like, wait for it, Lleyton Hewitt.

“I don’t want the public in Australia reacting to Bernard the way they did to Lleyton,” the manager told me in 2009.

“I’ll do everything to protect my client.”

Bernard Tomic has had a shaky past with Lleyton Hewitt.

At this stage, the gangly teenager had been signed up on the big bucks to Nike and was talking up winning all the slams by 18. Truly.

He’d shown a good hint of brattish behaviour after a complaint was lodged to Tennis Australia about his “lack of effort” in a loss at the 2007 junior French Open.

Which is no surprise to anyone now.

But the ‘tennis bad boy’ title was well and truly held by Hewitt back then.

Hewitt had a solid history of behaving poorly and in 2006 he was named as one of the “10 most hated athletes”.

That wasn’t even an Australian list, that was GQ’s world list, where Barry Bonds and Terrell Owens went No.1 and No.2.

“Hewitt isn’t even popular in his native Australia,’’ the magazine noted.

Hewitt had insinuated a US Open linesman was favouring American James Blake because they were both black in 2001. At the French Open he called a chair umpire and a net judge “spastics”, a crowd in Adelaide “stupid” and courts at Melbourne Park “cowshit”.

bernard Tomic showed hints of brattish behaviour way back in 2007.

As time has rolled on, it really hasn’t worked out for Tomic with the Australian public either.

If someone did up a list today for Australia’s ‘10 most hated’ athletes, yes, sadly, Tomic would probably top it.

Sadly, the rest of the world probably barely remembers Tomic these days.

This week Tomic enraged some when he tipped the bucket on Hewitt’s alleged dictatorship at Tennis Australia, stated “no-one likes him” and then threatened to knock him out.

He pointed out Hewitt is standing in the way of the next generation by continuing to play “doubles” in the Davis Cup. He said Hewitt had a conflict of interests and said he engaged of preferential treatment of players.

Do I think there is an element of truth to what Tomic is saying? For sure.

Some say Hewitt “goes above and beyond in his job”, working from dusk to dawn, but then others at Melbourne Park in the past have lamented that Hewitt “runs the joint”.

The ABC reported on Friday that Thanasi Kokkinakis was offered a wildcard for the Australian Open but had it pulled after Hewitt had ‘cast a veto’.

An 11-year-old Bernard Tomic with plenty of trophies.

Overseas success followed at 12 in the US.

As Tennis Australia director Wally Masur indicated there may be a review into Australia’s Davis Cup set-up. You can’t ignore that.

But what’s really disturbing in all this is not ‘conflicts of interests’, it’s that Tomic had made several threats against Hewitt’s family and tried to blackmail him. If it is true that Tomic threatened Hewitt and his family for “a year” then he should be reprimanded.

Before this latest mess Tomic had already annoyed the masses by playing without heart and quitting everything from tennis matches to I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

After he faked an injury at Wimbledon in 2017, saying he was bored playing Wimbledon, Tomic was branded “a dickhead”, “a brat” and “disgrace”.

Physical threats aside, you can understand why Hewitt is so incensed with Tomic. Over the years Hewitt quietly went about advising Tomic, helping him one-on-one at tournaments. Hewitt revealed he went as far as flying to the Gold Coast to support the at times mentally fragile and troubled tennis player. Hewitt, as he did on the court, tried his heart out off it with “Bernie”.

But their past had always been a bit shaky.

The rift started back at the 2009 Wimbledon when John Tomic declined on his son’s behalf Hewitt’s practice invitation. Relations froze for some time after that. But by 2015 Tomic was describing Hewitt as a “true mentor”.

But let’s go back to John Tomic for a minute – the father aka coach who really hasn’t been scrutinised hard enough in all of this.

A 12-year-old Bernie with his dad, John.

When I think of John Tomic, I think of the man who rearranged the face of Tomic’s then practice partner Thomas Drouet. He broke Drouet’s nose and his back in the assault. He was convicted and handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence by a Spanish court.

Yes, Bernard Tomic is now 26, a grown man, but there’s parts of his childhood, teens and later years that remain unwritten and are no doubt ugly.

John Tomic had a reputation as an overbearing and volatile tennis dad on the tour.

Letters to The Daily Telegraph this week were firmly in favour of Hewitt and slammed Tomic.

One reader wrote; “Bernard Tomic needs to be taught a lesson and that lesson would be to ban him from tennis for two years.”

Which you think Bernard Tomic wouldn’t mind.

Not so long ago he described being “trapped” in his profession. Because it was John Tomic’s dream not Bernard’s dream to be a star.

Some would say Tomic has always been a bit half-hearted about it all.

As it stands today no manager, no well-meaning tennis champ, no one, can save Bernard Tomic and his reputation.

Originally published as Bernard Tomic reputation almost irretrievable now after latest mess involving Lleyton Hewitt, says Jess Halloran