Australian Open boss Craig Tiley has refused to ensure a wildcard for controversial former star Bernard Tomic as he stands to overlook out on the qualifying draw regardless of a fast rankings trip.
Whether fellow outspoken Australian Nick Kyrgios will take the court docket in January additionally stays unsure, however Tiley stated it was nonetheless too early to rule out a comeback from a debilitating knee harm.
Tomic, 31, has quietly pushed up the world rankings over the past 18 months to achieve No.278 after slipping so far as 825 final yr.
The former Australian and US Open juniors champion has caught to the Challenger circuit all through 2023 and reached the quarter-finals of the Brasilia Challenger final week.
But he has solely performed in the primary draw of the Australian Open twice since 2018, the final time in 2021, having performed 9 in a row from his debut in 2009.
Tomic’s relationship with Tennis Australia has been strained for years, however Tiley stated that may don’t have any bearing on whether or not he was issued a wildcard for Open qualifying.
“It’s not so much about the relationship, but it’s about if they’re deserving,” Tiley stated.
“The things we consider – the form of the player coming in, there is a factor looking at age in some instances because do you want to give a younger player the opportunity versus one who’s been the journeyman for a while?
“We haven’t made the (wildcard) decisions in qualifying yet … we’ve made quite a few decisions on the main draw which we’ll announce in the coming days.”
Tiley stated Kyrgios’ availability for the grand slam was nonetheless a “day by day” proposition as he recovered from a knee harm that restricted him to a single skilled match in 2023.
“As I’ve said, we’re going to have Nick here in some form or another in January … hopefully it is to play because he’s a crowd-pleaser. We love watching Nick and we love having him around,” Tiley stated.
“It’s hard for me to predict (if he’ll play) … but it’s always likely someone is going to be ready to play because they want to play at the Australian Open.”
Despite the doubt over Kyrgios’ health on the native entrance, Tiley stated the return of stars together with Rafael Nadal, world No.1 Carlos Alacaraz and a major contingent of Chinese gamers had helped ticket gross sales enhance by greater than 10 per cent in contrast with this time final yr.
The further day’s play is anticipated to tip attendance over the event file.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
