AMERICAN tennis journeyman Michael Russell has reportedly branded Lleyton Hewitt “racist” and “a douche bag” in a stunning outburst on his Facebook page.
The post on a Facebook page, believed to be Russell’s, came after Russell was bundled out in the semi-finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Rhode Island.
Russell was beaten by Mahut, who then took on Hewitt in the final on the same day because of an earlier rain delay, beating the Aussie 5-7 7-5 6-3.
Despite finishing his match hours beforehand, the American took exception to a post-match interview in which Hewitt blamed fatigue and a tough draw for his loss.
“Lleyton Hewitt – what a douche bag and a racist by the way too,” the Facebook post said.
“How about you choked and stopped making excuses.”
“I would have loved to see Mahut/Hewitt on the side court 1 at Newport and see how many excuses Lleyton would have made then.”
In 2001 Hewitt was accused of being racist after an incident with a linesman and James Blake. Hewitt insisted there were no racial overtones at all in the outburst.
Russell has been ranked inside the top 100 this year and achieved a career high of 60 in 2007.
Russell’s wife has ‘liked’ many of the comments displayed in response to the post, seemingly quashing speculation his Facebook account may have been hacked.
source: http://www.news.com.au
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