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For a long time the Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt is a suspension of two weeks and a $ 25,000 US fine for “offensive behavior” rated, related to a situation that took place last November at the Davis Cup Finals.
Yes, it took almost a year before this was assessed. And in particular the suspension is to serve from 24 September to 7 October – “not to be” not punished “at Hewitt by influencing his Davis Cup schedule and to offer the possibility to appeal to be submitted before the sanction comes into force.”
The ITIA added that no profession has been submitted to date.
We will notice that after the few weekends (ok, making weeks) during the year in which a Davis Cup actually captains Nowadays the other 49-50 weeks, if there is work at all, are usually relaxed trips to the Majors to “control the level of the players”. Or whatever.
So assessing a suspension that needs to be served when a captain is not really ‘captain’ if you suspend work if you are already on vacation. Quite handy.
The other remarkable of this is that, although it continues throughout the year, the ITIA has not released any information about it until it was assessed.
(If the timing of this release seems intended to cause maximum impact, only a few days before the Davis Cup -similar play, that seems to be largely due to Hewitt who blocks the procedure for months and months).
Those two things alone will certainly lift eyebrows between the conspiracy theory, although of course this is not a case of a positive doping test, even if it falls under the tennis anti-doping program.
The suspension was imposed for an incident after Australia lost to Spain in the semi -finals of Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain on November 23, 2024. Came after Jannik Sinner Alex defeated the Minaur to give Italy an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the draw.
The 44-year-old Hewitt “pushed a 60-year-old voluntary anti-doping chaperone”-that means, those anonymous people who you will often see sticking to a clipboard, follow a player from the court after they lose a Grand Slam match against a wall. The information does not indicate whether it was a male or female officer, but in the text it confirms that it was a man.
This was considered an infringement of Article 7.15.1.1 of the tennis anti-doping program and Hewitt was accused of that violation on 6 January 2025.
Just a few hours before this information was released, Tennis Australia published a nice video of Hewitt who spoke about “team culture”, and of a hit-and-giggle with members of the Wallabies Rugby team.
Undoubtedly they will publish a transparent, fulsome blame for the actions of their captain when they wake up on Thursday morning.
(That sentence above was sarcasm).
Click here to read the report on the sanctions.
Click here to read the full report on the witness.
(We read the belts from Legalese, so you don’t have to! So if you appreciate that, click on an advertisement or two!)
Firstly, Hewitt denied it – although there was an overview of video certificate, witness statements and interviews.
He did not claim particularly credible, if you have ever seen these people do their work-“self-defense”.
He claimed that he did not know who this person was and seems to have blamed it for “a (edited) medical state that” could have bothered him. ” “. Later in the decision it was stated that he had” constant tenderness “in his recovery of the edited medical condition.
Four lawyers appeared in defense of Hewitt.
Because Hewitt has submitted requests for extensions, with reference to his “travel schedule, desire to investigate witnesses and want to appear for the tribunal personally”, the first hearing only happened 21-22 in Sydney. There were two other online sessions for witness statements.
On August 4, the chairman of the independent tribunal said that Hewitt’s actions “did not meet the requirements of self -defense”, and that his behavior was “not reasonable and proportionate”.
A suspension of two weeks was published.
“To the discretion of the chairman*, the sanction was suspended to be in force from 24 September 2025 to 7 October 2025, not to be on Hewitt by influencing his Davis Cup schedule **, and to offer the opportunity to be submitted before the sanction comes into effect”.
Again: to date no profession has been filed.
(Details about roughly elements below).
ITia CEO Karen Moorhouse: “Anti-doping staff plays a fundamental role behind the scenes in maintaining the integrity of tennis, and they should be able to play their roles without fear of physical contact. In this case that line was clearly crossed, and we had no other option but to take action.”
Well, not in an “unnecessary punitive” way.
Logically they thought that Hewitt would probably rely on the suspension and take it far past this weekend and take the draw versus Belgium. But it does not exactly send a kind of “we are tough for crime”, it does.
Hewitt told the tribunal that his autumn schedule included traveling to the Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris and ATP Finals in the coming months. The tribunal was rightly dubious about that schedule, based on the fact that he did not attend them last year. So if Hewitt does not actually appear on all those tournaments, “there may be further consequences”.
The suspension would run through Tokyo and the first few days of Shanghai.
-The Itia stated that the suspension should be four weeks,
-The volunteer Chaperone confirmed that he would never do volunteer work again.
-Hewitt “offered no apology and did not demonstrate a remorse about concern about the well-being of the victim. He” blamed the chaperone consistently “. He claims that the behavior was because he had” other physical contact from the Chaperone The 25-year career had registered and a “distinction code”.
-Preshe the submission of the ITIA has five previous incidents of offensive behavior towards tennis officers and non-compliance with tennis rules.
-Hewitt’s behavior during the entire procedure was “obstructive and inappropriate”.
The tribunal was not completely disagreed with that last point, which said that “Mr. Hewitt’s defense was robust against him and sometimes Uncletul. There were many distractions that could have been avoided.” But it did not agree that all this – or his earlier alleged cases of “offensive behavior” – could invoice in the actual suspension before the law in Spain.
The tribunal situations with players (Djokovic, Shapovalov, Zverev) who didn’t even have physical contact, but were punished much harder.
It considered the case of Hewitt “with intentional and powerful physical contact with a civil servant” as “equipment more seriously and justifies disqualification of events and the imposition of a considerable fine”.
And yet, in the end, only two weeks and $ 25,000. So much for that.
The maximum suspension is “permanent suspension/refusal of accreditation” on the ITF side (it is considerably higher in the ATP rulebook, which does not apply here).
A quarter of that $ 25,000 is suspended if he does not push anyone in the next 12 months. The tribunal ordered that a third of the fine must be paid to the volunteer “for reimbursement for the stress, discomfort and shame of the incident and these procedures.”
Hewitt and his crew preferred to go to a charity.
*Section 58 of the written decision is: “According to the Independent Tribunal, the suspension must be useful, which reflects the principle that underlies many sporting disciplinary frameworks. At the same time, it should not be structured in a way that is a mentorical position.”
** Section 60 of the written decision is: “In all circumstances I believe that the suspension should start on September 24, 2025 and two weeks after that on 7 October 2025 should close. In my opinion, this is a real consequence, but not aimed at punishing the major events immediately in the major events.
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