Bernie’s Brisbane back-out raises more doubts

BERNARD Tomic has withdrawn from qualifying for the Brisbane International, casting further uncertainty over his tennis future.

Tomic’s entry to the qualifying rounds starting on Saturday at the Queensland Tennis Centre has been withdrawn this week.

A line appears through the name of the former world No.17 on an entry list on an ATP Tour website accessible to players and officials.

The former Australian Davis Cup player has entered qualifying for the Australian Open next month and there has been no indication other than that his intentions are to play. News Corp sought comment from the Tomic camp on why he was not playing his home state tournament, but had not received a reply last night.

The Gold Coaster and other Australian men are waiting to see whether they receive one of the remaining Tennis Australia wildcards into the main draw of the year’s first Grand Slam event. Tomic was reduced to playing qualifying because of a poor run of results this year that saw his ranking tumble from No.26 to No.140.

His commitment to tennis was panned in July when he said he was “bored” by it, didn’t care if he won even Grand Slam matches and played only for money. Tomic’s case for Tennis Australia wildcards was not helped by his unavailability for Davis Cup this year and his decisions to skip this month’s Australian Open wildcard playoffs.

Former Australian Davis Cup captain John Newcombe said last month that if Tomic could not commit to a higher level of fitness training, he should take six months off to decide if he really wanted a tennis career.

Speaking before Tomic’s bypass of the Brisbane International was known, TA director of Tennis Wally Masur said he understood the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist was training this month on the Gold Coast.

Masur said the decision by Tomic to not play the wildcard playoffs, which were won by 18-year-old Alex de Minaur, would not cost Tomic one of TA’s discretionary wildcards to the Australian Open, but added that players who competed at the series in mid-December had sought to put their names “front and centre” in front of the TA selectors.

“A few players didn’t play. Some were injured and some elected not to play, so Bernie wasn’t alone there,” Masur said.

“There’s no judgment made. It’s pro tennis – some target the playoffs in their schedule.

“We offer them a spot in the playoffs and how they prioritise their schedule can affect their ability to get a wildcard,” he said.