Aussie tennis and Tomic – let’s take a chill pill

For some bizarre reason the Australian media has been asking whether 17 year old Bernard Tomic should be selected to play in the Australian Davis Cup team. Before we get to the fall-out over this issue, let’s just take some time to look at where Tomic sits in the pecking order.

Tennis is perhaps the most neurotic inducing sport going around, because at every single moment you know exactly how good you are. Even golf with its world rankings is not as driven by rankings – because there are two main tours in the world – the US PGA and the European Tour - and golf as well is not a head to head contest, so unless you are in the final group on the final day, you’re rarely going to be going toe to toe with the guy vying to beat you into second place. Boxing is head to head, but results can be decided by subjective judges unless someone knocks out his opponent. 

In tennis there is only one main tour – the ATP Tour – and there are no judges, no subjectivity: it’s a zero-sum game every single time. Someone will always win, someone will always lose. And your ranking is all that matters. Want to play in the big tournaments? Get ranked in the top 64. Want to be seeded at the Grand Slams? Get ranked in the top 32. Want to be asked to play in lucrative exhibition tournaments around the world? Get ranked in the top 20.

Every day as a tennis player you will wake up and know your precise place in the world – your opponents know it, your sponsors know it, tournament directors know it.

So when the media starts asking about Bernard Tomic being selected to play for Australia in the Davis Cup; you’d think his ranking must be pretty high – at least such that he is among Australia’s top 3 players – or close to it.

Here’s the top two Australian male tennis players:

Yep, he’s currently the 11th highest ranked Australian male tennis player – number 286 in the world.

So when Lleyton Hewitt was asked about Tomic being picked to play Davis Cup, it wasn’t surprising that he responded:

"Not right at the moment, no. He lost to Nick Lindahl and Matt Ebden in the (Australian Open) wildcard playoffs. These aren't world-beaters. They're solid players. They're tough grinders that have been around and played a lot of Futures and are very hard at it and work extremely hard. But, if you're looking at players at the moment, (Peter) Luczak has had as good a year as he's ever had. I'd definitely want him there with me."

What was more surprising was that the issue even arose in the first place.

Tomic is so far from being in Australia’s top 2 that it is a joke to consider him in that light, and a disservice to Peter Luczak as well.

Now ok, Tomic only played 8 senior tournaments last year, but even if he had played the 29 tournaments that Luczak had, and let’s assume Tomic was able to average the same level of results he did in his 8 tournaments, his ranking points would still only equal 544 – ie still less than Luczak and would have him ranked at number 96 in the world. And that is with a lot of big assumptions, especially when you consider 45 of Tomic’s 150 points came from winning one match at last year’s Australian Open. Should he lose in the first round this year – and remember as an unranked player he could face anyone in the first round – say Federer, or Nadal, or Murray or anyone ranked higher than the number 77 in the world he faced in the first round last year. If he loses those 45 points he drops back to around number 370 in the world.

Such are the joys of professional tennis. You were good last year? Well you better be as good or better this year, or down you go. (And at this point we should note that on Tuesday, Tomic played Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr – number 131 in the world – in the first round of the Brisbane International. Tomic lost.)

The big kerfuffle over Hewitt’s comments were that the media suddenly decided to play up that there was a simmering feud between the Hewitt and Tomic camps. This was inflamed when Tomic’s father, John came out the next day and said ''I think Lleyton had lots of wine during the new year.'' He continued with this pearler of stupidity:

"I will say this . . . Bernard is not a pure Australian, we feel like Aussies, but it is up to them, will they accept us? That is up to them. Probably there is something there. If we were Aussies, there might be different talk, a different attitude."

To which I’d suggest Hewitt (and most of Australia) was left thinking, “huh”? Apparently Hewitt saying that Peter Luczak (who was born in Poland) deserved to be in the Davis Cup more than Tomic, was evidence that Hewitt is racist because Tomic is of Croatian heritage.

Yes, it is that dumb.

Personally I think the time has come for Bernard Tomic to say thanks to his Dad, but that it is time for him to go it alone. That won’t happen soon – but I’m going to put money down that it will at some point, and that it won’t be pretty when it happens…

However what this whole dopey issue hides is that (to quote Jorge Borges in reference to the Falklands War), arguing about the Australian Davis Cup team is like two bald men fighting over a comb.

As you can see from above, Australia has only 2 players in the top 100. Let’s have a look at the number of men from a few other nations.

First let’s go with France:

Yep 12 players (3 in the top 20), all of whom are ranked higher than Luczak. What about the current Davis Cup holders, Spain?

Another 12, this time with 10 above Luczak, and an amazing 4 players in the top 20.

America, like Australia used to be a super power house in tennis. How are they going?

Another nine players in the top 100 – and David Nalbandian has been injured for most of the year, so he should be in the top 20.

The next time the media wonders about who should be playing in the Australian Davis Cup team, they would be better served to ask why we no longer actually have any real difficulty in choosing our squad. Two in the top 100? The issue isn’t who to pick, but why there is no real choice.