Those are some stunning comments when you consider Tomic had openly spoken as recently as 2015 of how he idolised Hewitt, after he beat him at that year's US Open.

Here's a history of the on-again-off-again spat between Hewitt and Tomic.

Thanks, but no thanks (September 2009)

Tomic was a highly rated junior, a precocious talent who had been flush with endorsement deals since childhood.

At Wimbledon 2009, when Tomic was 16 and Hewitt a former champion, the master asked the apprentice for a practice hit.

"He'll always be a great champion to me ... We were all watching," Tomic said of the final moments of Hewitt's gripping four-hour, five-set slog against Jarkko Nieminen.

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"I was watching with Thanasi and [Luke] Saville. For that situation, watching the last few points, it gave me goosebumps ... I would have loved for him to win but he didn't. When you see Lleyton play you always learn a lot.

"He's a true mentor, not just to me, but to a lot of people around the world. He's changed me. That attitude of wanting to fight more and believing more in matches. Growing up watching that sort of person compete and digging himself out of matches like that is motivating me a lot. He'll always be a great champion to me.

"If he can be around us as much as he can, it's going to be huge for us the next 10 years."

Hewitt happy to be mentor (June 2015)

The enthusiasm Tomic showed towards Hewitt was matched by the mentor.

"I've spoken, especially the last couple years, probably more so to Bernie," Hewitt said. "He's had his ups and downs the last couple of years. I've built a pretty strong relationship with Bernie. I think I'm probably one of the closer guys that he trusts now.

"Obviously little things I try and point out. I'm not going to say everything here. But he knows some of the stuff that I think can help him. They all have different strengths. I've said the last couple years, a lot of people were quick to write Bernie off after he had the hip surgeries, and I still think he's going to be a contender the next couple years."

More respect 'for Lleyton' (July 2015)

After he lost to Djokovic at Wimbledon, Tomic launched an attack on Tennis Australia. He claimed it had abandoned him.

He threatened to withdraw from an upcoming Davis Cup clash but said he would not do so out of respect for Hewitt.

"I'm going to go down there and play for the respect of Davis Cup, for the respect of the Australian public, for myself, and mainly for the respect of, you know, Lleyton and the team. You know, it's interesting what's happened the last week that Nick wasn't going to play, as well. You know, I was not going to play."

Tomic ends Hewitt's US Open singles career (September 2015)

Tomic beat Hewitt in their first ever professional meeting, a five-set epic at the US Open, the latter's last singles match.

"He is a huge legend to me. I always looked up to him. It was very emotional."

Hewitt goes in to bat for Bernie (January 2016)

Tomic hit the headlines for an alleged argument over a $20 court hire fee at the Gold Coast RACV Royal Pines club. Hewitt jumped to Tomic's defence.

"I think it was a misunderstanding more than anything," Hewitt said.

"Bernie had a great week in Brisbane. To beat a quality top 10 player in his first week, that was a great start to the year for Bernie."

Tomic splits with Hewitt's management company (January 2017)

The split became effective after Tomic's third round loss at the 2017 Australian Open.

"It's by mutual agreement, and I wish Bernard all the best for the future," David Drysdale, Hewitt's long time agent said.

Davis Cup exile begins (January 2017)

Tomic, with a commanding Davis Cup record of 17 wins and four losses since 2010, is left out of the squad to play the Czech Republic due to "scheduling" reasons according to Tennis Australia.

However it later emerges Tomic chose to withdraw from the squad. This is reportedly because of friction between Tennis Australia and the Tomic camp over funding for his younger sister Sara.

"He needs to make decisions for his reasons, but I'm not going to go out and beg guys to play for their country," Hewitt said.

'Out of control' (September 2017)

Hewitt's comments offer no insight into when Tomic could return to the Davis Cup fold.

"At the start of the year he opted not to play the Davis Cup and then, I guess, things just snowballed for him in terms of where it started getting a bit out of control with how he was playing," Hewitt said.

“Also his lack of fitness, I guess, and being able to last five sets, which is a massive issue in Davis Cup.

“And now, some of these young boys that I’ve been able to pick and I’ve given the opportunity to have taken it with both hands as well.

“So Bernard, it will always be open, that opportunity to come back.

“But he’s a long way off it right at the moment.”

'A long way back' (January 2018)

Hewitt pushes Tomic deeper into the Davis Cup wilderness.

“It is highly doubtful,” Hewitt said when asked of the chances of Tomic returning to the Davis Cup team.

“There’s a lot more that plays out behind the scenes than what Bernie says publicly. For me, he’s made some mistakes and it will be a long way back.

“With the team camaraderie we have at the moment, it’s as good as I’ve been a part of in a long time. We fully believe with the players we have here, we can go a long way.”

Tomic doesn't care (January 2018)

Responding to Hewitt's comments on The Project, and after he chose to come home from reality television show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Tomic unloaded:

"I don't care what Lleyton said. I never lost to him," Tomic said.

"The important thing is that there's a reason why I played Davis Cup at the youngest age in Australian history and there's a reason why my record stands that good," Tomic said.

"I stand by my call. They know they can't win without me and I know they can't win without me."

"It's up to only them to fix ... we have a few wrong people in that organisation and I hope that can change and I hope the best players can be playing Davis Cup again.

"I'm not happy with that whole situation with Tennis Australia. Until that clears and a few of the problems come out," Tomic said.

"We've seen it with the FIFA federation, how they were corrupt and I know it's in there. I'm yet to address it. Hopefully I can speak about it soon."