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Bob Hewitt

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• SA tennis ace sex shame

Local tennis players have come out in support of South African tennis legend Bob Hewitt, who has been accused of sexually harassing young girls he coached in South Africa and overseas.

But a former professional tennis player and a former SA Tennis Union president have both acknowledged having dealt with complaints that Hewitt was a sex pest.

US newspaper the Boston Globe conducted a six-month investigation into the claims that Hewitt was a sex pest with some of the underage girls he trained.

The investigation involved interviews in the US and locally.

Greer Leo-Smith, 54, who won three Grand Slam doubles titles with Hewitt in 1977 and 1979 in the US and England, was surprised by the allegations.

“I haven’t heard of this but he never tried anything on me,” she said in an interview with sister title the Sunday Tribune yesterday.

Leo-Smith said Hewitt trained her daily on a one-on-one basis when she was 16 and 17 and described him as a “good family friend” with whom she has kept in contact.

Tennis player and coach John Yuill said that although he only knew Hewitt towards the end of his career, he was nothing but professional.

“I used to love watching him play and when I got the opportunities to play against him he was nothing but a fierce competitor. We weren’t very sociable, but I never heard any rumours about him, even from other players,” he said.

Tanya Harford, a South African whose professional tennis career overlapped Hewitt’s, was aware in the 1980s of a claim of sexual harassment by a 14-year-old girl whose father complained to the SA Tennis Union. “It was a sad day for tennis,’’ she said.

Soon after, according to sources close to the organisation’s leaders, Hewitt was quietly barred from coaching girls.

Terry Rosenberg, a former SA Tennis Union president, said he addressed the matter by seeking out the parent of a girl whom Hewitt allegedly abused.

Rosenberg declined to provide details because the parent requested confidentiality. Nor would Rosenberg address personnel decisions involving Hewitt, other than to say, “On my watch, he was neither contracted by nor employed by the tennis union.’’

According to the Boston Globe, one of the accusers has filed a police report in Massachusetts.

Suellen Sheehan, one of the four alleged victims who agreed to go public, said “he destroyed me as a person”.

Sheehan said she was 10 in 1979 when Hewitt began making sexual advances towards her. “I’ve been trying for the past 30-odd years to get my life back,” said Sheehan, 42, an office manager of the South African Golf Association. “I haven’t recovered yet.’’

Gina Read, 42, of Johannesburg, said she was 14 when Hewitt began sexually harassing her.

In an interview with a Globe reporter outside his farmhouse in Addo, Eastern Cape, Hewitt, 71, declined to address the allegations.

He also declined the reporter’s invitation to look at the police complaint.

“I’m not saying anything,’’ Hewitt said. “I don’t want to talk about it.’’

Several attempts by Weekend Argus to contact Hewitt were unsuccessful.

Hewitt’s Hall of Fame status remains intact, while the organisation waits to learn more about the women’s allegations, said chief executive Mark Stenning.

The SA Tennis Association reserved comment. - Weekend Argus