Australian Davis Cup captain Wally Masur has indicated he will reach out to troubled tennis star Bernard Tomic following his arrest in Miami.
Tomic was arrested, handcuffed and taken into custody on Wednesday following complaints of loud music and early morning partying in his $A7000-a-night penthouse at the W Hotel.
The 22-year-old was charged with resisting a police officer without violence and trespassing, in an incident where he allegedly pointed his finger aggressively at hotel security officers, slammed a door in their face and dismissed police officers’ requests to leave.
But Masur said despite TA’s fractured relationship with Australia’s top-ranked and controversy-prone tennis player, he hopes they can sort out their differences so the governing body can provide Tomic with much-needed support.
“I’d like to think we’ve got the resources to help him absolutely,” Masur told Fox Sports on Friday.
“I’ve got four kids, and I look at Bernie as a 22-year-old kid in my eyes.
“I like him, and for me personally I will send Bernie a message. Whether he chooses to talk to me or not that’s up to him.
“But I absolutely hope that Bernie can just move on and get back to what he does best which is playing tennis.”
Tomic was kicked out of Australia’s Davis Cup squad over his “unacceptable” criticism of TA officials including Pat Rafter and CEO Craig Tiley following his third-round Wimbledon exit.
Among other claims during his 10-minute tirade, he accused the governing body of abandoning him after he underwent double hip surgery last year and that Rafter, TA’s director of player performance, was merely a “mask” for Tiley and had no idea how to control the budget for player funding.
TA president Steve Healy said the allegations were “misinformed and untrue”.
Masur was confident Tomic could still earn himself a recall to Australia’s Davis Cup semi-final side in September should the team emerge victorious from this week’s tie with Kazakhstan.
“My stance on this – and I’m a Tennis Australia employee – is that at some point we can sit down, hopefully the differences aren’t irreconcilable,” he said.
“We can sit down, meet some common ground and I’d like to think that Bernie’s part of the Australian tennis fraternity.”
Healy admitted on Friday he was “very worried” about the precocious talent.
“We are very worried about Bernard it certainly is a very sad situation,” Healy told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“We hope this is a turning point in the road for him and that he realises the error of his ways and makes some changes.
“He’s a real talent, and it’s just a shame that talent is being wasted.”
Rafter hoped the arrest could mark a turning point for Tomic, who he said had “hit rock bottom”.
