Melbourne  - Davis Cup coach Todd Woodbridge has taken it upon himself to try and stop the damaging inter-generational feud between established star Lleyton Hewitt and promising teenager Bernard Tomic before it wrecks the underpinnings of the current Australian game. Former doubles great Woody has said he would act as a mediator, adding that former number one and two-time Grand Slam winner Hewitt and Tomic, 16, will have to bury the hatchet on their own.

It's feared that Hewitt will refuse to play on a Davis Cup side along with Tomic if the matter is not settled.

The bad blood stems from an incident last summer before Wimbledon when Tomic reportedly refused to train with his senior compatriot. One version says the youngster turned down a Hewitt training invitation; the other says Tomic didn't want to pass along a virus he was carrying at the time. Whatever the truth, Woodbridge calls the blow-up a "kerfuffle."

"I'd like to see them speak face-to-face," Woodbridge told local media. "We're talking about a minor, who's 16, and we're talking about a guy who's 28, so we want them to correspond, and I think it's essential for Bernard to be able to do that.

"Both individuals have to get together and talk it out; thrash it out between our former world number one and our current world number one junior, and not through third parties like parents or agents." (dpa)