Australian tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt has been accused by Max Purcell of not alerting him to the result of his application for an Australian Open 2022 wildcard.
Purcell, ranked 174th in the world, missed out on the wildcard and will now need to qualify for the men's singles main draw - the route he completed successfully in 2020.
While the 23-year-old isn't disappointed in the wildcard decision, he criticised Hewitt for not delivering news, despite the pair spending time together last week as part of Australia's ATP Cup team.
Purcell and Hewitt have endured a fractured relationship in recent years since the talent was coming through the junior ranks.
"I actually was told I’d know on Thursday… (then) I’m hearing whispers in the Australian locker room from Lleyton saying something to Jaymon Crabb," Purcell said.
"Then, at like 11pm, I messaged Wally Masur (Tennis Australia performance director) saying, ‘Mate, I’ve got three hours to pull out of Sydney, otherwise I’ll be stuck playing Sydney instead of qualies - what’s going on?’.
"He’s like, ‘Oh, no, Lleyton was supposed to tell you; I wasn’t supposed to tell you. I told him to tell you considering he was the one who didn’t want you to have it’.
"So, I didn’t end up finding out until 11pm Thursday, because I guess he didn’t have the balls to tell me in person.
"I am 176 in the world, so I should be in qualifying, anyway. So, I’m kind of taking it like that."
Purcell won his first round Australian Open qualifying match against Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 6-2 and will face Czech talent Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday.
When asked about why his relationship with Hewitt has been frosty for a long time, Purcell said: "I’ve been a bit of a smart arse throughout my junior career … I guess he took it a little too seriously."
The four Australian men to receive main draw wildcards were Alex Bolt, Aleks Vukic, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Chris O’Connell, while veteran Andy Murray was also given a berth in the main event.
