Former Australian Davis Cup representative Sam Groth was among those leaping to Hewitt's defence on Tuesday morning, with the 31-year-old taking a none-too-subtle potshot at Tomic for taking attention away from other local players, eight of whom won on day one at Melbourne Park.

"In a time where we should be celebrating tennis in this country we're now talking about a guy who has bowed in straight sets in the first round and who we haven't really spoken about because this time last year he was off doing reality TV," Groth told SEN.

"I'm not sure (Hewitt) is going to hold a lot back to be honest. I think he has bitten his tongue for quite a long time on this stuff and I think it is time probably to address it and put it all to bed to be fair."

Tomic sparked the developing drama following his straight-sets loss on Monday evening.

“It's all Lleyton. I have got to say honestly no one likes him any more, he is doing the wrong thing,” Tomic said. “Kokkinakis, Kyrgios, we don't want to play any more because he has ruined the system. Go away."

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Hewitt is helping guide the career of teenager Alex de Minaur, the current Australian No.1, but there have been indications that relations with other players are not as healthy. Kyrgios suggested on social media during the Brisbane International this month that Hewitt had abandoned him and Kokkinakis, before deleting the post and later saying it was a joke.

After qualifying for a wildcard at the Australian Open, Kokkinakis labelled as “bullshit” a report of a rift with Hewitt dating back to when John Millman was preferred to him for a Davis Cup tie in 2017.

Tomic’s stunning broadside, however, has brought the issue simmering back to the surface.

While the 26-year-old called for the Davis Cup captain to “get moved”, Hewitt was also defended on Tuesday by his former coach Roger Rasheed.

“Lleyton is the Australian Davis Cup captain,” Rasheed told Sky Sports Radio. “When you’re the captain, you can decide to steer that how you wish and Lleyton has done that and he’s done it the way he wanted to take hold and deliver his leadership.

“It's like a coach of a football team. There are always going to be players that actually love the coach. There is going to be a few players, if they’re not getting a game and they think they should be getting a game, they’ll actually have different feelings for the coach. I think it’s just one of those natural play outs as far as teams and coaches go.

“We can obviously see the admiration that someone like Alex de Minaur has for Lleyton. There is Jordan Thompson ... there are guys out there that are showing how important it is for Lleyton to be in there.”

On Tomic, Rasheed said: “I think you’ve got to be true to yourself out there on the tennis court. I think those comments, they’re not warranted comments.

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"[Hewitt] gave everything to the sport and you’ve got someone having pot shots. Regardless of what the situation is I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.

"For Bernie I’d love him to just put his head down, get himself in the condition that he needs to be to play tennis at a professional level, day in day out, week in week out, and offer himself to the challenge. But at the moment we don’t see that product.

“To then be making the comments that he made, I think you’ve got to be looking after your own backyard.”

Todd Woodbridge also weighed in on the issue on Tuesday morning, stating this was another example of Tomic trying to draw attention away from his defeat.

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“One of the most disappointing things here is it’s become his habit of deflecting a loss and deflecting what work he does to try to get better as a tennis player,” Woodbridge told 3AW.

“Lleyton copped it last night. The last one that copped it, at Wimbledon a couple of years ago, was Pat Rafter.

“Now, I’ve been in spaces in development that have been around Bernie and I can promise you that myself, Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt – who have all got a wealth of experience in this game, both as players and dealing with media and trying to help our next generation – have given him enormous amounts of our personal time.

“I’ve been away from my family and kids, as Pat Rafter did, as Lleyton Hewitt has, to enhance Bernard’s career. So it’s time he actually used some of the things that we’ve given him, the tools, and try to just get his tennis back on track.

“Last night was a poor attempt to deflect that he hasn’t been doing that.”

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis play their first-round matches at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

with Anthony Colangelo