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A drama engulfing tennis star Lleyton Hewitt – which saw the Australian Davis Cup team captain given a two week suspension for an alleged incident after a match in Malaga – has taken a major twist after lawyers for the former player spoke out.
Lleyon stands accused of pushing an anti-doping official following his team’s semi-final loss to Italy last year.
Tennis officials subsequently found him guilty of “offensive conduct”, issuing him with a two-week ban and slapping the star with a $30,000 fine.
Now, in a shock development, Lleyton’s legal team claims “manipulated video evidence” was used against the tennis star at the hearing, and that he has been the victim of “unfair characterisation”.
Lleyton says the official at the centre of the storm failed to identify himself as a Doping Control Officer at the time of the incident.
“In December 2024, Lleyton Hewitt AM (LH) was notified of an alleged breach of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) following submission of manipulated video evidence to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The footage appeared to depict LH making physical contact with a Doping Control Officer (DCO),” the statement from Lleyton’s legal team said.
“The incident in question occurred immediately following the second match of the 2024 Davis Cup tie between Australia and Italy.”
The statement said that in his capacity as Team Captain, Lleyton had left the court alongside player Alex de Minaur, walking through a highly congested tunnel area. “During this time, a DCO, who never made himself known to either LH or Alex de Minaur, made significant contact with LH who was recovering from surgery,” the statement read.
“As the DCO attempted to re-approach Alex de Minaur in haste, LH, perceiving the threat of another imminent collision, reacted by fending the DCO away. Importantly, LH did not know who the DCO was or why he was in the tunnel.”
The statement went on to state that a tribunal accepted Lleyton’s account of the incident and found that “contact with the official was at the lower end of the spectrum for contact with officials”.
“The Tribunal expressly acknowledged this and also LH’s credibility throughout the proceedings,” the statement went on.
“The ITIA’s unfair characterisation of him was rejected.
“It is with relief that these proceedings have now concluded. Whilst LH and his legal team are considering an appeal of the decision, his primary concern remains the integrity of the sport and the fair treatment of all participants.”
Lleyton himself spoke out about the controversy a day earlier, telling media that he was “really disappointed” about the decision and the “whole process”.
“I’ll be going to the appeal process with my legal team, so I won’t be talking about it any further,” the 44-year-old said.
Meanwhile, an insider told Woman’s Day how the controversy was impacting Lleyton’s wife Bec Hewitt.
“Bec will be at her wits end with this latest round of drama… she is almost always the one who smooths the waters when her family ends up back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons,” the source revealed.
“She knows her husband better than anyone and while Lleyton fought the claims, she would be telling him to cop the punishment on the chin, and get on with it.
“The real fear here is that Bec would be genuinely concerned Tennis Australia could now review Lleyton’s role with our Davis Cup team — they’re a young and impressionable group of players who all look to Lleyton as a role model,” the insider added.
“If, in fact, his job as coach is in jeopardy, that’s the sort of stuff that really upsets Bec… when her husband’s integrity is questioned… because she knows what a good man he really is. She’ll stand by him as she usually does.”
