All roads must lead to success

While John Fitzgerald stopped short of claiming it was the best debut for a young Australian player ever, he had a gleaming assessment of the 17-year-old’s first Davis Cup rubber victory.
“You have to take the opposition into consideration but it was pretty impressive really. I mean he hardly missed a beat – gee he timed the ball well, he’s a good player,” he told the media after Tomic’s three-set drubbing of Chinese Taipei’s Tsung-Hua Yang.

It is possible to suggest Tomic has the patience, skill, composure, and on-court presence required to make it the Top 10 in the world and eventually play a featuring role in winning a 29th Davis Cup final for Australia.
“He was a little nervy, as you expect, in the first set and then he just loosened up after that and really showed us what he can do,” Fitzgerald said.
“I thought he might be a tiny bit more nervous than he was, he handled it very well. Even though he was confident that if he played his best he’d have the opposition covered I think, but you still got to do it so he did well.”

Australia’s No. 1 player at the tie, Peter Luczak, also gave Tomic a glowing report.
“Bernie played really well in the first match, I was actually expecting a little bit more time to get ready for my match, but he romped through that match,” he said.

As the youngest Australian player in 77 years made a perfect start to his Davis Cup career, there was no mistaking what was on the mind of every man donning the green and gold courtside.
“We want to get back in to the main group,” Fitzgerald said with acute determination, sentiments that seem to filter all the way down the ranks to reserve player Matthew Ebden.
“All the boys on the bench are hoping we can get through this tie and make our way back to the world group,” Ebden said in a court-side interview with Tennis Australia during the second rubber on Friday.

There is no lack of team-spirit in the camp either with injured Davis Cup team member Chris Guccione seen on the sidelines on Sunday and Lleyton Hewitt also sent his best wishes to the team. Last week, Hewitt stated the “future of the team” as the reason behind his peace offering to Tomic after their practice mix-up at Wimbledon last year and the resulting stand-off.

While the exact date Hewitt is expected to return the Davis Cup team is not known, Fitzgerald explained that a relieved Hewitt had said his recovery from a second hip operation was ahead of schedule. If Hewitt does return for the team’s next hurdle, a home tie against Japan in May, it could cause a selection headache for Fitzgerald. Peter Luczak, Bernard Tomic, Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione could all see themselves in strong competition for the No. 2 spot.

Fitzgerald’s focus, with the aid of a Todd Woodbridge idea, spawned a viewing of a historic and inspiring Australian Davis Cup documentary as a prelude to the tie against the Chinese Taipei.
“It was terrific, even for the older guys, to give them a sense of the fraternity they belong to. There is not many, Bernard is the 100th player in 105 years so it’s a small group and a proud group,” Fitzgerald said.

“It was very appropriate to see that on the eve of this match as the young ones in particular learnt a lot about the history, what it means to the older players, it gives those older, great players of our past the respect they deserve and shows them what club they are joining so it was a good thing.”
A win against Japan in May will seal a place for Australia in the World Group Playoffs scheduled for September, where teams like Switzerland, Germany, India, Sweden, Ecuador, and Belgium are expected to take part after losing in the first round of the World Group on the weekend.

However, the United States looms as a major threat to Australia’s chances of joining the World Group next year after a weakened outfit were only just edged out by tournament favourites Serbia on Sunday.
Andy Roddick and James Blake did not contest that tie and with American team captain Patrick McEnroe leaving the door wide open for their return, the two could be what stands in the way of the Australian team returning to the elite group.

Ben Carenco