Lleyton Hewitt (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        MASON - An in-house squabble between Lleyton Hewitt and ATP Tour officials went public Tuesday, with the world's No.1-ranked player saying he almost refused to play his first-round match.

        Hewitt first blanked qualifier Robby Ginepri 6-0, 6-0, in 41 minutes at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, then he blasted the tour in his postmatch news conference.

        The 21-year-old Australian said he was approached two hours before his 1 p.m. match about doing an interview with ESPN. He said he had fulfilled his commitments for the ATP Tour for the week and had not agreed to do another interview. He was told he would face a fine.

        As a top-10 player, it would be $20,000 or half his total prize money earned this week, whichever is higher. The ATP Tour announced the fine, which can be appealed to a committee of former players, later Tuesday.

        Hewitt finally said, “Bring the crew in the corner of the locker room.”

        By then, it was too late. Hewitt was furious the focus for his match was interrupted.

        “I have never, ever done an interview the day I play a match,” Hewitt said. “I am sitting in the locker room, my head is spinning, I didn't know what was going on, whether I was actually going to go out and play or not. It's tough for me to go out there and try and concentrate 100 percent on your game when you've got 15,000 things going through your mind.

        “When you've got guys who can't make decisions within the ATP setup, it makes it pretty tough on everyone. I can really understand why the WTA, I think a lot of people see, is going stronger than the ATP at the moment.”

        An ATP official said Hewitt was asked last week in Toronto to do the interview with ESPN, but he declined to do it, then lost in the first round. Octagon, his management group, then said it would try for one this week in Cincinnati.

        The commitment was put on Hewitt's list for the STARS program, which requires four activities for a maximum of two hours per week from each player.

        When the tour approached Hewitt on Sunday about setting up a time, the ATP official said, Hewitt said he wasn't going to do the interview. ESPN also requested Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi this week and got both.

        The tour official said Hewitt could have fulfilled his commitment last week, Sunday or Monday. Hewitt had told Octagon he preferred not to do the interview.

        “We have been having talks with the (ATP Tour) CEO (Mark Miles) the last ongoing weeks, let alone the last 24, 48 hours about the whole thing,” Hewitt said. “He hasn't seemed to have enough guts to put himself on the line and make the big calls.”

        Miles said it's important for the players to adhere to the STARS program and that players are not asked to fulfill commitments “under threat of penalty” just before matches as a general rule. However, he added, Hewitt had an obligation to do the ESPN interview Sunday or Monday and didn't.

        “You'd prefer to never have infractions, but I think the staff felt that there's a bit of a history here and enough was enough,” Miles said.

        “Look, I admire the guy on court. His fire and his spunk are great assets to the game. Yet we've got to treat guys with some flexibility but fairly in asking them to carry their weight off court. He got fined. He has the right to an appeal, absolutely. He'll be treated fairly by guys who empathize, who've been through it. And he can go in and make his case.”

        Tom Ross, Hewitt's agent and senior vice president of Octagon, said he is confident an appeal of the fine will prevail.

        “Lleyton has a great relationship with and respect for the Florys (who run the event here) and all they've done to make Cincinnati such a great tournament,” Ross said. “It's unfortunate that his experience this year has been tainted a bit due to the bad judgment of certain ATP staff.

        “... Mark Miles didn't get to his position by not being able to solve problems such as this and bring his staff into line, to help them have a little perspective and just plain common sense. I am fully confident that our appeal of this fine will prevail.”

        Hewitt also did not do an on-court interview with ESPN after his victory Tuesday.

        The result was just the second 6-0, 6-0 score on the ATP Tour this year, and it was the first in Cincinnati since Matt Mitchell blanked John Mattke in the first round in 1982.

        “He didn't play great obviously,” Hewitt said of Ginepri. “He looked very nervous right from the start. I ... was a bit surprised that I was able to keep any balls in considering all the crap that I was going through.”

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