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:

Rank	Name & Nationality	Points	Tournaments Played
22	Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS)	1,600	21
77	Luczak, Peter (AUS)	598	29

 

OK, so Tomic is not there… but he must be close right? I mean number 77 is pretty low, he must be nearly at that level… Let’s have a look at Australians ranked from 101-200:

 

134	Ball, Carsten (AUS)	400	23
136	Guccione, Chris (AUS)	385	18
186	Matosevic, Marinko (AUS)	252	22

 

OK… so he’s not in the top 5 Australian players, nor in the top 200.

 

Ah, hang the suspense, let’s see where he sits:

 

202	Klein, Brydan (AUS)	230	17
247	Jones, Greg (AUS)	184	26
251	Lindahl, Nick (AUS)	179	20
279	Groth, Samuel (AUS)	157	15
285	Ebden, Matthew (AUS)	151	17
286	Tomic, Bernard (AUS)	150	8

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:

Rank	Name & Nationality	Points	Tournaments Played
10	Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA)	2,875	26
13	Monfils, Gael (FRA)	2,610	24
15	Simon, Gilles (FRA)	2,275	27
32	Chardy, Jeremy (FRA)	1,102	31
33	Mathieu, Paul-Henri (FRA)	1,080	29
46	Benneteau, Julien (FRA)	924	29
52	Gasquet, Richard (FRA)	850	21
58	Gicquel, Marc (FRA)	744	29
63	Clement, Arnaud (FRA)	667	28
65	Serra, Florent (FRA)	665	33
67	Llodra, Michael (FRA)	649	20
68	Santoro, Fabrice (FRA)	645	28

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

Rank	Name & Nationality	Points	Tournaments Played
2	Nadal, Rafael (ESP)	9,205	19
9	Verdasco, Fernando (ESP)	3,300	24
16	Robredo, Tommy (ESP)	2,175	27
17	Ferrer, David (ESP)	1,870	26
23	Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP)	1,555	25
26	Almagro, Nicolas (ESP)	1,305	26
31	Montanes, Albert (ESP)	1,140	28
41	Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo (ESP)	954	28
47	Lopez, Feliciano (ESP)	905	26
70	Hernandez, Oscar (ESP)	633	36
72	Gimeno-Traver, Daniel (ESP)	613	32
91	Granollers, Marcel (ESP)	553	34

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?

Rank	Name & Nationality	Points	Tournaments Played
7	Roddick, Andy (USA)	4,410	20
25	Querrey, Sam (USA)	1,320	26
34	Isner, John (USA)	1,067	22
44	Blake, James (USA)	935	21
55	Fish, Mardy (USA)	790	25
76	Dent, Taylor (USA)	602	23
79	Ram, Rajeev (USA)	590	24
83	Russell, Michael (USA)	579	24
100	Ginepri, Robby (USA)	529	23

 

Nine in the top 100 – so not great with only Roddick in the top 20, but it is still a picture Tennis Australia would be deeply envious of.

 

Germany?

 

Rank	Name & Nationality	Points	Tournaments Played
18	Haas, Tommy (GER)	1,855	19
27	Kohlschreiber, Philipp (GER)	1,260	28
39	Beck, Andreas (GER)	1,000	27
40	Becker, Benjamin (GER)	986	29
59	Greul, Simon (GER)	739	27
61	Mayer, Florian (GER)	701	25
74	Berrer, Michael (GER)	608	26
78	Zverev, Mischa (GER)	590	26
80	Petzschner, Philipp (GER)	587	30
85	Schuettler, Rainer (GER)	575	31
92	Brands, Daniel (GER)	550	32

 

Eleven! Yep eleven (remember Australia has eleven players in the top 300). And I bet unless you are a serious tennis watcher, you wouldn’t have been able to name more than Tommy Haas. This is the world of modern tennis – lots of people you have never heard of who can all play tennis better than all but one Australian.

 

I’ll end with Argentina – another nation that has come to the fore in recent times:

 

Rank	Name & Nationality	Points	Tournaments Played
5	Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG)	6,785	22
30	Monaco, Juan (ARG)	1,170	27
45	Zeballos, Horacio (ARG)	934	27
51	Acasuso, Jose (ARG)	870	24
64	Nalbandian, David (ARG)	665	19
66	Gonzalez, Maximo (ARG)	663	22
73	Chela, Juan Ignacio (ARG)	611	26
75	Mayer, Leonardo (ARG)	607	24
99	Vassallo Arguello, Martin (ARG)	535	29

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.