Bernard Tomic has called Lleyton Hewitt a “liar” and denied threatening the Australia Davis Cup captain’s family.

An ugly war of words within Australian men’s tennis has overshadowed the home country’s achievements on court and shows no sign of dying down yet.

It began on Monday when, after a first-round loss, Tomic accused Hewitt of favouring some players over others and said no-one wanted him as Davis Cup captain.

Hewitt then responded in an incendiary press conference on Thursday, calling Tomic a clown and claiming the 26-year-old had tried to blackmail him and threatened him and his family.

"For me the biggest frustration is I feel like I went out of my way to help Bernie," Hewitt said.

"Especially when I first came into the role, I spent a lot of time with him one and one, and at a lot of tournaments, tried to get a coaching structure and physical team around him to give him best opportunity.

"He still kept making the wrong mistakes.

"After the abuse I copped from him, I drew a line in the sand and haven't spoke to him since.

“The threats I’ve received for me and my family, that I’ve had for a year and half now, I don’t think anyone would reach out to a person who speaks like that.”

And Tomic has wasted little time to fire back at his former mentor, telling the Herald Sun: “I have never threatened his family.

"Nice, Lleyton. To think how low of a person you actually (are), and why the Australian public never liked you.

“I got nothing to do with your family and I don’t care what’s wrong with you, you liar.”

On Monday, Tomic denied there was a rift between himself and Hewitt. If you were to ask him that same question today, however, the answer may well be very different.