Hewitt's response was even more explosive.
"For me it was probably the abuse that I copped," Hewitt said when asked why he no longer speaks to Tomic.
"I had to draw a line in the sand and that will continue. He won't play Davis Cup. I haven't spoken to him since.
"The threats that I have received for me and my family, I've had for a year and a half now."
He said the threats had been "blackmail and physical", saying the alleged threats have involved wife Bec Hewitt, but it remains unclear if his children Ava, Mia and Cruz were also mentioned.
"It started because of blackmails to do with wildcards and this was over a year ago," said Hewitt.
Hewitt later claimed Tomic's blackmail attempts surrounded the former Australian No. 1's demand to get his way with Tennis Australia or he would refuse to play Davis Cup ties.
Hewitt said he had not had anything to do with Tomic since their infamous falling out in 2017 when his attempt to reach out to the younger tennis star on the Gold Coast was reportedly spurned under the advice of Tomic's father John.
"I don't know what's happened or why Bernie is Bernie. I have no idea," Hewitt said of their falling out. "It's probably his upbringing. That would have a big part to do with it.
"For me, the biggest frustration is that I feel like I really went out of my way to help Bernie. Especially when I first came into the role.
"At the end of the day, he just kept making the wrong mistakes."
Tomic dropped a series of bombs following his first-round loss on Monday night in which he declared both Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis have told him that they do not want to play Davis Cup while Hewitt remains captain.
Hewitt insisted his relationships with Kyrgios and Kokkinakis are salvageable. However, he also declared both have failed to meet the behavioural standards he has tried to bring since taking over as Davis Cup captain two years ago.
Tomic said in his press conference that both Kyrgios and Kokkinakis told him that they do not want to play under Hewitt's leadership.
"Absolutely, Kokkinakis, Kyrgios, we don't want to play anymore because he's ruined it," Tomic said.
"He's ruined the system. Like, go away. I thought he'd retired, like, why are you still in tennis? Why do you still play all these doubles tournaments?"
Hewitt said he has spoken to Kyrgios since Wednesday night where Kyrgios appeared to criticise Hewitt for attending only the match of Alex de Minaur.
"All we ask for is that you commit to the sport," Hewitt said of his friction with Kyrgios.
"All I want is for guys to commit and to play hard and to want to play for Australia. I don't think that's too much to ask."
Tomic also dramatically accused Hewitt of showing preferential treatment to certain players he claimed were linked to Hewitt's management agency W Sports and Media.
He claimed Hewitt was promoting players and advocating for the players "under his wing" to be issued with main draw wildcard entries into the Australian Open in order to financially benefit himself.
Tomic mentioned both Alex Bolt and Marc Polmans as examples of players favoured by Hewitt. Neither are linked to Hewitt's management company.
Hewitt on Thursday also denied having any stake in the W Sport and Media management company and insisted he does not receive any financial benefit from having some young Australians earn tournament prize money.
He also said he would welcome an investigation into Tomic's accusations that he gave some players preferential treatment.
In response to Tomic's accusation that he was being selfish by selecting himself to play Davis Cup doubles ties, Hewitt said he does not plan on playing doubles at next month's tie in Adelaide and says he only played doubles at last year's tie in Austria because too many Australian players had made themselves unavailable.
The 26-year-old's accusations come after a report last week claimed Kokkinakis had fallen out with the Aussie Davis Cup tie over a selection snub from for a tie in 2017.
Hewitt earlier this week gave a quick interview with Channel 9 where he was not asked Tomic's conflict of interest accusations — and claimed he "laughed" at Tomic's explosive press conference.
"I don't think there's a rift," Hewitt said of his relationship with Kokkinakis and Kyrgios.
"I had a bit of a laugh to be honest, especially after a loss (on Monday) night going in and complaining about a few things, so for me I just laugh it off and move forward."
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash earlier this week called for an investigation into Tomic's allegations against Hewitt.
Tennis greats John Newcombe, Wally Masur and Todd Woodbridge have spoken out in support of Hewitt, but Cash called for an independent investigation into Tomic's claims. "I think it really needs to be looked into. If it's clean then it's clean; if it's not then there's a real problem" Cash told Melbourne sports radio channel SEN.
"I think it needs to be looked into and I don't think Tennis Australia within themselves need to be looking into it. I think somebody else probably needs to be looking into that.
"Maybe Bernie's got a point, maybe there's a grain of truth in this, maybe there's more than a grain of truth. If it is true then it's a bit worrying, I've got to say … if you're Thanasi Kokkinakis, your ranking was pretty high and you get overlooked by somebody who is within the management team, then you would wonder."
Resurgent Aussie Matt Ebden was also far from convincing when asked if Australian players have issues with Hewitt's captaincy.
Without mentioning Hewitt directly, he also slammed the limited communication he says players have received ahead of recent Cup ties. He said it is difficult for players and their families to only find about team selections in the week before overseas ties.
"There's clearly some issues that need to be addressed with the players and Tennis Australia, with Davis Cup and the players and the group as a whole," Ebden said.
"I'm not going to lie, there's definitely some issues that need to be resolved on both sides."
