Monday 23 March 2015 12:46, UK
Australian-born former doubles Grand Slam champion Bob Hewitt has been found guilty of raping and assaulting young girls who he was coaching in the early 1980s.
Hewitt, 75, had pleaded not guilty to the two charges of rape and one of indecent assault, which were brought against him by three women in 2013.
Judge Bert Bam at the South Gauteng High Court outside Johannesburg described the evidence against Hewitt, best known as a doubles star, as "overwhelming.”
At the trial, his victims said that Hewitt assaulted them during private tennis lessons when they were young girls, one as young as 12.
"Time did not erase the crimes. A guilty person should not go unpunished. The scales of justice tip against the accused," Bam said.
The judge said Hewitt manipulated the young girls and they were intimidated by him.
Hewitt won numerous Grand Slam doubles titles during his career in the 1960s and 1970s and was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.
But his name was removed from the hall of fame in 2012, following sexual abuse allegations.
Hewitt was born in Dubbo, Australia but has spent much of his life in South Africa.
A date for sentencing has not been set.
