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Drama Down Under: Tomic's illness questioned
December 15, 2010 - Ticker

The continuing saga of controversial Aussie teenager Bernard Tomic continued as the Herald Sun is questioning whether the 18-year-old was legitimately ill when he pulled out of the Australian Open wildcard playoffs.

Tomic notified officials of his withdrawal on Sunday night, but the Herald Sun reported that he practiced for two hours in Queensland on Tuesday, the day the competition began. The newspaper said that Tomic is confident that he will be handed one of Tennis Australia's discretionary wildcards for the Australian Open and didn’t feel he needed to compete in the playoffs.


"If what you're saying is correct, one, I'd be highly annoyed and, two, I'd have to talk to the team on what decision we would be taking," Australian Open director Craig Tiley said. “He'd be considered (for a wildcard), he's been considered all year... but if someone makes a decision to rely on the discretionary wildcard, I never advise someone to do that. This is why we have this event, because you can confirm your opportunity, you know you've got it and you can just prepare for your summer…I know for a fact that each year it's getting harder because there are more players, younger players, who are very good. So it's going to start going to players who are doing the right thing."


Aussie veteran Peter Luczak, who will face James Lemke in quarterfinals of the playoff, said he would compete regardless of his health.

"You couldn't have stopped me from playing this," Luczak said. "Twisted ankle or broken leg, I would have been out here trying."

In the women's draw, Alicia Molik and Jelena Dokic both scored wins. Dokic bested Nina Catovic 6-3, 6-2, while Molik edged Sophie Letcher 6-4, 7-6 (4).—Matthew Cronin

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