In the same room where, 11 months earlier, his Davis Cup commitment was questioned by Bernard Tomic, Nick Kyrgios passed judgment on his erstwhile teammate before this week's first-round Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic at Kooyong.
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Dressed in his gold Australian tracksuit top and flanked by captain Lleyton Hewitt and teammates Sam Groth, Sam Peers and debutant Jordan Thompson, Kyrgios was asked about Tomic's unavailability, having rather dubiously cited scheduling issues when there is clearly far more to the story.Last March, the Queenslander Tomic had accused Kyrgios of faking ilness to avoid what turned out to be a 3-1 loss to the US.
"Um, I haven't really had too much contact with 'BT' at the moment," said Kyrgios, freshly returned from a rendezvous with injured girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic in Miami. "But I think we've got a great opportunity to win this year, I think we've got a really good line-up, we've got a lot of depth. So as Lleyton said, you're not gonna beg guys to play, but it's disappointing not having him here. There's no reason why he should not be here."
Hewitt, who spoke in depth at the weekend about the Tomic no-show, said it was more frustrating than disappointing. "But then again, for me, I've been doing a lot of work on the side with Thommo [Thompson] the last few months and he'd do anything to get out and wear the green and gold, so I couldn't be prouder," said the skipper, rather pointedly.
"It's gonna be a special moment for Thommo, and we've seen him improve and take the right steps the last couple of years, but his win against David Ferrer in Brisbane was fantastic and I think he learnt a lot from that, and how he can handle playing in big matches against quality players. And this is another opportunity for him to grow as a person and a tennis player."
So, better someone who wants to be involed than someone who, well, doesn't?
"Oh, I want all the boys to be committed to playing Davis Cup," said Hewitt, the most-capped Australian. "This is a fantastic opportunity, we don't [often] get to come together and play for your country, and this is the one opportunity that we get each year, and I prided myself on it.
"I had some of my biggest highs and some of my toughest lows in Davis Cup, but there's no better feeling than winning in a team environment and looking over to the boys on the side of the court and knowing that they've got your back.
"So at the end of the day, I said it a couple of days ago: I'm not gonna beg guys to play for their country. You've got to want to come out here and represent your country, and otherwise you're not gonna have the results anyway."
