WIMBLEDON, England—Bernard Tomic says he will make himself available for Davis Cup the week after Wimbledon despite unleashing a torrent of criticism at Tennis Australia.
With his father John unhappy that Tennis Australia was not funding Tomic's sister Sara, Tomic had reportedly decided against playing Davis Cup and instead requested a wild card into Newport, which takes place doing the same weekend. Tomic confirmed that he had requested a wild card, but said he will turn it down to play the Davis Cup quarterfinal, largely because of his relationship with assistant captain Lleyton Hewitt and because, according to Tomic, Nick Kyrgios said he would not play if Tomic did not.
"I always wanted to play," Tomic said about Davis Cup following his third-round defeat at Wimbledon. "I'm going to. I'm going to go down there and play for the respect of Davis Cup, for the respect of the Australian public, for myself, and mainly for the respect of, you know, Lleyton and the team. You know, it's interesting what's happened the last week that Nick wasn't going to play, as well. You know, I was not going to play. He said, ‘If you don't play, I don't play.’"
During Wimbledon, new Tennis Australia development chief and former Davis Cup captain Patrick Rafter responded to John Tomic's comments by saying that the organization had provided plenty of funding for Bernard Tomic, but that the organization had decided it would no longer fund players and families that were persistently attacking it.
"There is a lot of stuff that's involved now that I'm very disappointed in which I'd like to talk to you guys," Tomic said. "Personally inside it's been very difficult for me the last year or so in the Tennis Australia group. So it's interesting how it's changed."
Tomic said he had been charged for practice courts, including a session on the Brisbane stadium this year—“I couldn't believe it. I took the receipt”—and appeared to refer to recent nationality changes by Ajla Tomljanovic and Daria Gavrilova, saying, "Meanwhile, we are buying these players overseas, doing this, doing that, buying players instead of supporting us, junior players, giving them something.”
Tomic also said that he had received little or no backing from Tennis Australia following hip surgery the previous season. "All of a sudden, things started changing after I had that surgery. You know, I didn't get one phone call from Tennis Australia," he said. "Tennis Australia, who supported me along the way very good. You know, don't get me wrong. From what Pat said, a lot of money was invested in me, for sure. But whatever they invested in me, they got in return ten, 20 times more.
"Now all of a sudden, they are neglecting me, for some reason."
Tomic said he was not personally "at war" with Rafter, who he described as a "nice guy" but added, "If the Australian public don't know Pat, he's a good actor, he's well-spoken, always prepared and knows what to say. He's prepped by Tennis Australia to know what to say."
But he had harsher words for Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley and president Stephen Healey. "You know, behind that I think [I'm] very disappointed in Craig Tiley in Tennis Australia. He's the reason the last few years, it's been up and down for me," said Tomic. "Ever since he came in, he knows how he got in. In a sneaky way he got his position and only he knows himself how he got this position. Everything started changing and stuff. No one is mentioning him. He's doing a lot of stuff. They are holding so much money down there, and doing what they want, increasing their salary, this, that, giving Pat a salary, it's like saying, ‘Here, Pat, here's a salary.’ He doesn't know what he's doing.
"He's a mask for these guys, Craig and Steve. They don't want to deal with this. They give it to Pat. You do the work. You take care of this and that. He doesn't know what he's doing.
“It's really these guys in Tennis Australia, someone needs to go."