Did David Duchovny follow the midlife crisis playbook as his decade-plus, previously scandal-free marriage to Téa Leoni crumbled?

On the heels of the estranged couple's statement last week that they've actually been separated for "several months," a leggy tennis instructor may have dropped -- warning, bad tennis puns ahead -- a volley of hints that more than just private lessons were served to the actor, a suggestion his reps vigorously deny.

Duchovny, 48, who recently checked out of rehab for sex addiction, has long been dogged by rumors of a non-sports-related bond with his coach, Edit Pakay, 28, who may or may not have decided to blab to a British tabloid.

"We have a very, very close friendship," Pakay is quoted as telling the Mail on Sunday. "I don't want to be the third person in the marriage but I know it can be seen that way."

But she then contradictorily adds, "I might talk more later. At the moment I cannot. I have a lot of pride. If I talk about my relationship with David, people will think I am just some girl who talks to the press. I am not like that. If you want to write that we have an affair, then fine. I will not argue against it."

Téa and David take kids Kyd and Madelaine to a Knicks game in New York last year. (©Reuters)

The Hungarian racket swinger goes on to gush to "the press" about the "Californication" star, who has two children -- daughter Madelaine, 9, and son Kyd, 6 -- with Leoni, enthusing that he's an "excellent" tennis player and "in great shape ... He is a wonderful man. He's a very intelligent, very kind and good man."

Still, she stops short of outright confessing to any backhand action off the court.

"I don't want to say anything that might hurt David," insists the seemingly chatty Edit. "I am not going to deny it. I don't know what our relationship means to him."

Presumably a whole lot less than it means to her.

Duchovny's rep admits that he knows Pakay but categorically denies a love connection, scoffing to the paper, "There is no romantic relationship and never has been."

His lawyer is even more forceful is his denial, telling People, "The stories about an alleged affair between David Duchovny and his tennis instructor, Edit Pakay, are completely false."

Not only that, says the legal pit bull, but Pakay "denied the rumors to me in person last Friday, saying they are just friends, and in addition, said in writing that such stories are 'lies and deceit.'"

Got that? 'Cause it's in writing now.

Pakay, for her part, appears to be backpedaling from the overly chummy circumstances alluded to in the alleged interview.

"Yeah, we played tennis and we were playing partners and friends," she tells E! News. "There is no romance, and we are just friends. No love, nothing. That is all I have to say."

Duchovny's lawyer pipes in to E! that he advised the Mail not to run the "false" story and says they plan to sue over it.

Also going the denial route is Billy Bob Thornton, who is doing his best to quash rumblings linking him to Leoni, his co-star in the forthcoming, desperately-in-need-of-a-new-title flick "Manure."

The Daily Mail has implied that the actress, who in recent months has reportedly been seen cheering on the phobia-riddled Oscar winner's band the Boxmasters, appreciated more than just his musical and thespian talents.

Not so, insists Thornton's spokesman, who tells E! News that they're "just friends" and co-stars.

In the current issue of More magazine, Leoni describes the inexplicably appealing Billy Bob, who's been married five times (fifth wife Angelina Jolie was so smitten she tattooed his name on her arm, a spot she has since covered up with the geographical coordinates of the birthplaces of her six kids), as "maybe my new favorite person in the world."

Not that he's looking for any public praise.

"I always want to be anonymous in every aspect of my life," Thornton tells OK!. "I've been famous for a long time -- I'm tired of that s---. I just want to be in a band."

But he's resigned himself to his horrible, horrible fate.

"You can't not be famous once you are," he sighs to the mag. "Once you've screwed a bunch of pretty girls and won an Academy Award, you're screwed."