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Lleyton Hewitt’s planning to appeal his recent ban from tennis, but at home, the stress of the whole controversy has already taken its toll on his wife Bec and their kids.
Now insiders say as a distressed Bec tries to pick up the pieces of her husband’s latest sporting scandal, his tennis protegee Cruz, 16, is now wondering if he even wants a future career in the game!
“Cruz is ranked 841 in the world and after this recent drama with his dad, he’s actually at a real crossroads, and considering if in fact he’s going to continue to chase his dream to hopefully one day be as good as his dad,” a Hewitt family insider tells Woman’s Day.
“On top of all Lleyton’s dramas, he’s also having to come to terms with the fact that his son is at a really impressionable age and like other kids his age, he’s probably feeling a little bit embarrassed by his dad’s behaviour. And Bec may well be wishing Cruz would hang up the racquet for good.”
AT HER WITS’ END’
Lleyton, 44, was banned from tennis for two weeks and handed a $30,000 fine after a lengthy investigation found he had pushed an anti-doping volunteer at last year’s Davis Cup semi-final in Spain.
However, the tennis great isn’t backing down from his appeal, with his legal team claiming “manipulated video evidence” was used against him.
The appeal comes after Bec, 42, was revealed to be at her “wits’ end” with all the drama surrounding her husband’s ban and was worried his position as Australia’s Davis Cup coach could be compromised.
“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 insider told Woman’s Day.
“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 source added.
“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.”
With his own career in freefall, Lleyton is turning his focus to son Cruz’s future in tennis and what needs to be done to ensure his success – including possibly replacing his coach, retired tennis pro and Lleyton’s longtime friend, Peter Luczak.
“Peter is officially Cruz’s coach, but people say Lleyton calls the shots,” a source says. “There have been whispers Lleyton is shopping around for a new coach because he sees it as a now or never situation – a lot of tennis pundits think he’s close to coming to the realisation that his only son is not going to be the champion he was at the same age.
“It won’t surprise anyone if Cruz tries his hand at another sport like golf or AFL, but if a new coach means he’s got a chance, then Lleyton will make that happen. He might even try and get a top-ranking coach like the former coach of [Novak] Djokovic or Andy Murray.”
