Once again the controversy-stricken duo of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic find themselves excluded from receiving the biggest award in Australian tennis.
The Newcombe Medal acknowledges players who have performed exceptionally on the tennis circuit. Both Kyrgios and Tomic have displayed their talents on the tour this year. Kyrgios clinched his first ATP 500 title in Tokyo as well as two further ATP 250 titles. Meanwhile, Tomic achieved a ranking high of 17th in January and reached one ATP final in Acapulco.
Despite both men enjoying success on the tour, their behaviour has been the subject of much debate. Kyrgios was suspended by the ATP in October following his controversial performance against Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters. The world No.13 appeared to be deliberately tanking the match and engaged in arguments with members of the crowd.
Tomic was also accused of tanking earlier this year at the Madrid Open. Facing Fabio Fognini, the Australian held his racket around the wrong way on match point. He then embarked further controversy shortly after the match when he told the media that he didn’t care about the match point, before apologising a few days later.
“I don’t care about that match point. Would you care if you were 23 and worth over $10 million?” Said Tomic in May.
As a consequence of both players’ behaviour, they have been omitted from the 2016 awards. Seven-time grand slam champion John Newcome, who the award is named after, has endorsed the decision to remove both men from the awards.
“It’s not just about your ability to play tennis … it’s (also) about how you’ve conducted yourself during the year,” Newcome told reporters on Monday.
“It’s nothing at all against Bernie and Nick — they’re nice, young blokes and they’ve done terrifically during the year,” he later added.
Kyrgios has played-down the significance of his omission. Despite not releasing any formal statement, the 21-year-old took to Twitter to say he was ‘good’ about not being shortlisted.
The questionable antics of both players have been a thing of nightmares for Tennis Australia. Both Tomic and Kyrgios has been instrumental in their countries two wins in the Davis Cup this year.
Regardless of the controversy, Newcome is still praising Kyrgios. Looking ahead to the upcoming season, he said that Kyrgios has the ability to reach the top six in the world.
“Nick seems to be the type of player that can find form really quickly,” he said.
“I think Nick will come on fine as long as he’s physically fit.
“I think he’ll do really well in the Australian Open and all things being equal I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nick in the top six by the end of 2017.
“Everybody in the world thinks the ability is there to do it.”
