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After an extremely disappointing US Open, and more controversy, Bernard Tomic suits up for the Australian Davis Cup team as they take on Slovakia in the second rubber against Jozef Kovalik. Join The Roar for live scores from 1pm (AEST).
Tomic, who comes into this tie against Slovakia with an outstanding Davis Cup record of 16 wins and four losses, has had a busy hardcourt season, and apart from the grand slam failure was in solid form.
However, the amount of tennis he has played means he is nursing and fighting off a cold coming into the tie, and along with Nick Kyrgios’ hip injury, you can’t be sure how they will pull up for Sunday, making this first day so much more important for the Aussies.
A four-set loss to Damir Dzumhur at the US Open, and some comments made to a fan, have derailed much of that form, but Tomic is fantastic on grass holding a 65 per cent career winning percentage and the best always seems to come out playing Davis Cup.
Jozek Kovalik was only added to the Slovakian team for this tie after higher ranked players Martin Klizan and Lukas Lacko dropped out of the tie.
Like his Slovakian singles partner Andrej Martin though, Kovalik is ranked outside the top 100 in the world and has traditionally struggled, and flat out avoided the grass court throughout the course of his career.
He has only played a grand total of eight grass court matches since 2009, winning just three of them. In saying that, he did play at the qualifiers for Wimbledon this year, making the final round but stumbling at the final hurdle.
Kovalik had a first-round loss at the US Open, and his form on the challenger circuit has been disappointing to say the least.
The pair have never faced off before this meeting.
Prediction
Tomic had quite a good hard court season despite his US Open failure, and playing on his favourite surface, in an environment he is generally very comfortable in he should be expected to get the job done for Australia.
Tomic in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores from the second rubber in this Davis Cup tie between Australia and Slovakia from around 1pm (AEST) or at the completion of Nick Kyrgios vs Andrej Martin and don’t forget to add a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde