Alex Bogdanovic says he believes he did not get a wild card into Wimbledon this year because of both his 0-8 match record at the tournament and his decision not to play Britain's Davis Cup playoff against Turkey in July.
The LTA only recommends British players ranked within the Top 250 to receive wild cards from the All England Club, which runs Wimbledon. Bogdanovic is within the cutoff at No. 166, but has never won a match in eight previous wild-card appearances at Wimbledon.
"Even though I did meet the criteria, it was their decision. You know, they felt like I didn't make use of the wild cards," he said after losing in the first round of Queen's as a qualifer, but added that tensions with the LTA may have also been a factor.
"When I told [British Davis Cup captain Leon Smith], I think in Nottingham, that I won't be playing for this tie, I need to get my ranking up, he was obviously disappointed with that. He said I wasn't going to get pretty much any wild cards—that, even though he doesn't make the decision for the All England Club."
Bogdanovic said he felt he wanted to focus on improving his ranking after having his LTA funding cut from 15,000 pounds last year to 4,000 so far this year. "[I] didn't get into the Aegon squad. My money was cut," he said. "I found out they obviously didn't believe in me anymore... So I just knew I had to go out there, and get my ranking up.
"To me, it doesn't make sense—if you can't get the funding, if you can't be in the team, then how can someone want you to play for your country."