The problems for Australian tennis has intensified after Bernard Tomic sharply criticized Nick Kyrgios’ Davis Cup commitment following Australia’s 3-1 loss to the USA.
The controversial comments started after Tomic was caught on camera accusing Kyrgios of faking illness during his Davis Cup match against John Isner. In one of his changeovers where he was getting his wrist strapped, the on court microphone caught Tomic saying ‘Nick’s sitting down in Canberra. Bullshit he’s sick. Two times Nick’s done it’.
The world No.20 continued his rant during his after match press conference at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Maintaining his accusation that Kyrgios was faking his illness in order to avoid Davis Cup duty, he drew similarities between Kyrgios’ recent withdrawal to his one against the Czech Republic in February last year.
“He didn’t come to Czech and had stress fractures and somehow played Indian Wells and felt good,” Tomic said at the post-match press conference.
“Now it’s going to be funny for me to see whether he plays.
“If he plays Indian Wells, then he’s definitely lost a little bit of my respect.”
Kyrgios withdrew from this weekend’s tie due to illness and recently said that he has barely been able to pick up a racket over the past week. Meanwhile, Tomic has also been plagued with problems with his wrist. The Australian said that he had endured the issue ever since he lost against Andy Murray at the Australian Open but wanted to play in the Davis Cup.
“In a situation where it wasn’t Davis Cup, I would have pulled out and not played with the pain I was playing with,” The world No.20 said.
According to the 23-year-old, Kyrgios spoke to his teammates about the upcoming BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells. According to Tomic, Kyrgios allegedly said that he ‘was sick today but was going to be better tomorrow’.
Kyrgios, who recently won his first ATP title in Marseille, responded to Tomic’s comments on his Twitter account. After initially playing down the comments as ‘the heat of the moment’, the 20-year-old then added fuel to the fire.
Just don’t expect me to have your back anytime soon.
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) March 6, 2016
The comments have marred Lleyton Hewitt debut as Davis Cup captain. The loss to the USA could only be the smallest issue for the 35-year-old. There now seems to be a divide in the team between their two highest ranked players, a potentially toxic situation for future ties. Speaking about this weekend’s developments, the former world No.1 has dismissed the idea that Kyrgios faked his illness.
“Nick came down here and gave everything he had to try to be available and there’s no doubt he was sick.” Hewitt said.
The Australian team will now play a promotion/relegation play-off tie in September against a yet to be confirmed country.
