Bernard Tomic has apologized for the loud music and behavior that led to his arrest in Miami, while his fellow Australians have been attempting to concentrate on their Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan in Darwin.
Speaking to a local CBS station, Tomic said, “It was definitely my fault, what happened. I was asleep on several occasions when they complained at first but it was just a noise complaint."
The 22-year-old was asked to turn down the volume of his music by security guards twice and then told by police to leave the hotel. Tomic was arrested for staying in the room, and briefly jailed. He also said that he did not refuse to leave but had been collecting his belongings.
It is not the first time Tomic has been involved with the police, having also been ticketed while driving his sports car and getting involved in a party brawl. "I was very young, I'd like to say I’ve learned, but in a different way last night obviously I haven’t," said Tomic, adding that this incident had taught him more.
Tomic's vehement criticism of Tennis Australia officials following his defeat at Wimbledon got him suspended from Davis Cup, and he lost in the first round this week in Newport.
Meanwhile, the Australians on Davis Cup duty heard about the incident the morning before going down 2-0 to Kazakhstan. Thanasis Kokkinakis said, "I didn't read too much into it, didn't seem too bad. We're just trying to do our own thing and we've got the tie, which I tried to focus on. But it obviously didn't work today."
"He's young, he's still learning," Nick Krygios said.
Australian Davis Cup captain Wally Masur said he had texted Tomic, receiving a reply from the player that he was OK.
However, Tennis Australia president Steve Healy expressed concern, saying in a statement, "Although we've had differences with his team, we've always expressed our willingness to help Bernard and we hope he can turn this difficult situation around. We will continue to reach out to Bernard. We've let him know both publicly and privately we are willing to work with him in the future, and help him achieve his potential as both a player and a person."