Bernard Tomic is to make his first appearance in a tour event since Australian Open Qualifying. The Australian, who has had issues with his commitment to tennis after a difficult last twelve months, has entered two upcoming Challengers in Europe.
The Challenger Tour is the second main rung of men’s professional tennis, where lower-ranked players often play.
Tomic failed to appear in the Australian Open main draw proper for the first time since 2008, when he also lost in qualifying to Prakash Amritraj
Tomic will hope to get his career back on track in a tournament in Lille, France before then playing another event in Alicante.
Tomic, ranked No.168 this week, down from a career-high of No.17 in 2016, does not have a strong enough ranking to make direct entry into higher-profile events. The Australian, 25, has been a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon. However, he has failed to win consecutive matches at tour-level since reaching the quarter-finals in Eastbourne, (l. to Monfils.)
News of Tomic’s return is unlikely to result in a return to Davis Cup action. When pressed on whether there could be a recall in the offing for Tomic team captain Lleyton Hewitt said: “Not right now, no.”
Hewitt was more interested in looking to the future for his young team, “We just have to pick ourselves up. But it’s a close knit team – nothing is going to change that. Next time we will fight to stay in the World Group which is the next goal. If we can do that again, we still have a young, up-and-coming team.”
Hewitt was speaking in the wake of Australia’s home defeat to an Alexander Zverev-led Germany in Brisbane. Zverev edged young teenage sensation Alex De Minaur over five sets before beating Nick Kyrgios to seal the tie on Sunday.
