Lleyton Hewitt has said that it is ‘highly doubtful’ that Bernard Tomic will play in the Davis Cup again after criticising the former top 20 player.
Tomic has dropped down the world rankings by over 130 places over the past 12 months following a poor run of results. Last year he only managed to win 10 out of 29 matches played on the ATP Tour. The lacklustre form has continued into 2018 at the Australian Open. Missing out on a wildcard, Tomic lost in the third round of qualifying. Following his latest defeat, he told journalists that he would ‘count his millions.’
“I just count money, that’s all I do. I count my millions,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“You go do what I did [on court]. Bye bye.
“You go make 13-14 million [dollars]. Good luck guys.”
The controversial antics seems to be the final straw for Hewitt, who is the captain of the Australian Davis Cup team. At a media conference on Tuesday, the former world No.1 said it was unlikely that the 25-year-old would play in the team tournament again. The comments comes ahead of Australia’s clash with Germany this weekend in Brisbane.
“It’s highly doubtful. He’s made some mistakes. It will be a long way back. He’s digging a big hole for himself that he may never get out of.” Hewitt told the Australian Associated Press.
Tomic is currently in South Africa taking part in the Australian reality TV show I’m a celebrity…..get me out of here! Raising questions about how committed he is to tennis. On the show he has threatened to expose ‘corruption’ at Tennis Australia without giving further details. Something Hewitt has brushed aside.
“I don’t watch a lot of those kind of shows but a couple of boys have kept a close eye on it and it keeps them in good humour at night and gives them something to talk about,” he said.
“The team camaraderie is as good as I have seen for a long time. We believe we can go a long way and I back these boys.”
The decision to appear on the TV show, where celebrities have to do a series of challenges whilst living in the jungle, has been slammed by Hewitt. Who said that it is pointless for him to continue his tennis career if he is not committed. A couple days into filming, Tomic admitted that he is considering quitting the show because he ‘needs to be out there playing and competing.”
“It’s strange. You either want to be a tennis player or you don’t,” he argued about Tomic’s TV appearance.
“I don’t know [if he will play again]. He still wanted to play the Australian Open and tried to qualify and good on him for that. But it is pointless if he is playing in quallies and [is] not committed to the sport.
“He’s wasting not only his time but also everyone around him.”
Tomic has been ranked as high as 17th in the world and reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon back in 2011. So far in his career, he won three ATP titles with the last occurring at the 2015 Claro Open in Bogota.
