Bernard Tomic has slammed Tennis Australia, citing lack of respect and funding, but has confirmed he will be playing Davis Cup out of “respect” for his team-mates and his country.
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Australia will face Kazakhstan in the World Group quarter-finals this month and it was believed that Tomic was not going to play following comments from Pat Rafter who said the young Aussie was being held hostage by his father, John Tomic, who was at odds with Tennis Australia over lack of funding for Sara Tomic, Bernard’s sister.
Bernard Tomic swings too hard, lacks focus and misses his targets. And that’s just the press conferences. pic.twitter.com/JB3s8N4Mgx
— John Johnsonson (@JohnJohnsonson) July 4, 2015
But Tomic said he wanted to set the record straight yesterday, following his third round exit at the hands of Novak Djokovic, saying he was going to play Davis Cup before unleashing a scathing attack on Tennis Australia officials, including chief executive Craig Tiley, president Stephen Healy and Rafter, the director of performance.
“I always wanted to play Davis Cup. 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 Lleyton (Hewitt) and the team,” a calm but sharp Tomic announced yesterday.
“Personally it’s been very difficult for me the last year or so in the Tennis Australia group. Pat is a nice guy. 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,” Tomic said of Rafter.
“He’s always ready to fire back questions that we answer to. Very disappointed in Craig Tiley, in Tennis Australia. He’s the reason the last few years, it’s been up and down for me. There has been lack of support towards me. There has been no respect towards me.”
Tomic, who exploded onto the scene by making the quarter-finals at Wimbledon as a qualifier in 2011, has been unable to live up to his potential so far and had hip surgery last year which hampered his progress.
“Things started changing after I had that surgery. I didn’t get one phone call from Tennis Australia ‘can we help you, Bernard? Can we do this? Do you need something? Can we give you something?” he explained.
“Nothing. No phone calls were there. From what Pat said, a lot of money was invested in me, for sure. But whatever they invested in me, they got in return 10, 20 times more. Now all of a sudden, they are neglecting me. They are not supporting me, not respecting me.”
