Australia named Bernard Tomic, 17, as their youngest ever Davis Cup player yesterday for their upcoming tie against Taiwan, shrugging off last month’s Australian Open rant and his ongoing feud with Lleyton Hewitt.
Tomic, called up after injuries to Hewitt and Chris Guccione, will be 17 years and 135 days old for the Asia Oceania Group One clash at Melbourne Park from March 5 to March 7, beating John Alexander’s 1968 record by 42 days.
“This is a crucial tie for us,” said Australia’s Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald. “[Taiwan] has some talented young players and as we have seen before, anything can happen in Davis Cup.”
Wildcard Tomic, currently ranked 210, took world No. 14 Marin Cilic to five sets in the Australian Open’s second round before complaining bitterly about the 2.10am finish, earning a dressing-down from officials.
Father and coach John Tomic reportedly threatened to shift his son to Croatia, during a row with the Australian Open’s tournament director Craig Tilley after the controversial match.
The teen has also argued openly with Hewitt, who said Tomic was not qualified for Davis Cup tennis after he reportedly snubbed a practice match with the former world No. 1 at Wimbledon last year.
Fitzgerald said he believed there was a “good balance of experience and youth” in the four-man side, which includes world No. 75 Peter Luczak, Davis Cup veteran Carsten Ball and doubles specialist Paul Hanley.
Australia have struggled in recent years due to a lack of depth in quality players with only Hewitt (24) and Luczak currently ranked in the top 100.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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