Pat Rafter has challenged Bernard Tomic to approach every ATP match like he does Davis Cup amid fresh criticism of his attitude and work ethic.
Tomic played a starring role as Australia returned to the World Group with a 4-1 win over Poland in Warsaw.
For the second straight tie, the 20-year-old won both of his singles matches to take his Davis Cup win-loss record to an impressive 12-2.
Particularly pleasing to Rafter was the manner of Tomic’s 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 win over Lukasz Kubot on Sunday.
Tomic trailed 5-1 in the second set and looked to be struggling before staging a remarkable, and rare, fightback to win the set in a tiebreaker.
The world No.51 has been accused of tanking in matches on the men’s tour and Rafter once branded his attitude as “disgraceful”.
The Australian captain felt the team environment brought the best out in Tomic and now he wants to see him doing it for himself.
“I thought he could have gone away (in the second set),” Rafter told AAP.
“In the past, when he plays for himself, he lets those matches go a lot of times but when he’s playing Davis Cup he’s never really lets anything go.
“That a testament to him and I’ve told him that he’s got to carry that on to his form throughout the year, being tough and playing tough.
“He’s a potential top-10 player. It’s only a matter of time before he starts learning and understanding the hard work he does during Davis Cup, he has to do all year round.”
Tomic’s performance came amid a string of accusations made by his former training partner Thomas Drouet, who was assaulted by Bernard’s father and coach John Tomic during the Madrid Masters.
Following John Tomic’s conviction over the incident, Drouet has spoken out about his time working with the Tomics.
In his “diary” published by News Corp Australia, Drouet paints John as irrational and abusive towards his son.
The Frenchman also criticised Bernard Tomic’s work ethic, claiming he often chose partying over working hard and accused him of giving up during matches.
Tomic said he had been told about Drouet’s comments via text message but claimed he head not read them as he tried to maintain focus ahead of Sunday’s crunch rubber.
“I didn’t see a lot. I like to keep away from that stuff. I’m not going to pay attention to it,” Tomic told AAP.
“I had something to do today that was very important to me and nothing else mattered.
“I came out on the court today with as much focus today as I could to win this tie.
“Davis Cup is very, very big for me and it’s an amazing feeling for me to have this as an accomplishment, to get back in the World Group.”
