Australian tennis is at its 'lowest point' according to the country's No.1 player Lleyton Hewitt, who joined past tennis stars in condemning the actions of Tennis Australia on the ABC's Four Corners program on Monday night.
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash claimed the national tennis body 'messed up a bunch of really talented kids' while Liz Smylie, herself a former Wimbledon doubles champion, also criticised Tennis Australia for creating a 'for us or against us culture'.
Other leading tennis figures to appear on the program included former professionals Jason Stoltenburg and Paul McNamara who were also vocal in arguing against the two-decade long regime of Geoff Pollard at Tennis Australia.
Hewitt's ongoing friction with Tennis Australia is sure to be exacerbated with the world No.24 lamenting the fact that the Davis Cup team was made up of players ranked between 250 – 400 which was 'really scraping the barrel'.
"Right at the moment it's at its lowest point, I think. In terms of players coming through we don't have a lot at the moment," Hewitt said.
"I think we have struggled to make the transition from juniors to seniors."
"I think we emphasise junior results ways too much."
"I qualified for the Australian Open when I was 15 (years old) in the seniors."
"I have been fortunate enough to have won two grand slams, I have worked with some of the best coaches in the world whether it's Tony Roche, Jason Stoltenberg, Darren Cahill. I have had the best guys around," he added.
"At the moment those guys aren't being used in Australian tennis and that hurts."
Tennis Australia's director of tennis Craig Tiley defended the development program which he has overseen since 2005.
"It's based on performance and I think that is the performance culture we instilled in the pathway and with the sport," he said.
"A player who reaches a certain international benchmark and are tracking to be a great player gets the highest level of funding and support."
"We have added accountability and clarity to the pathway and we have been able to resource that with a substantial increase in our budget."
The investigation also looked at:
- Apparent dirty tactics in the lead-up to last year's presidential campaign between Pollard and Paul McNamee.
- Potential conflicts of interest due to Tennis Australia running a player management business and other financial dealings including property development on tennis-specific sites.
- The dealings behind the decision to schedule Samantha Stosur's Australian Open match against Serena Williams of which only nine minutes was broadcast live.
- The controversial Australian Open surface switch.
- The failure of Tennis Australia's development program.