London: Bernard Tomic says he does not like to compare himself to Nick Kyrgios, although on current measures Tomic is No.2 in both ranking and profile behind the fellow Rio no-show and headline magnet two years his junior. Additional common ground comes at Wimbledon, where the top 20 pair of former quarter-finalists share joint responsibility for an Australian singles presence in the second week.
Both are scheduled for first-round duty on Tuesday; Kyrgios against wildcard Radek Stepanek, Tomic versus another veteran, Fernando Verdasco. Yet there is no personal competition, Tomic insists, with the pair appearing to have stitched-up any flesh wounds caused by their Davis Cup-related spat in March, and apparently unconcerned by ill-conceived suggestions of a pecking order.
"I don't really look at it as much as that any more," Tomic said. "Before, I think we exert energy too much on who's No.1, who's No.2, and if Nick can be No.10 in the world and I can be five, or he can be eight and I be 12, I'm happy with this.
"I've got to look at my career and I respect him as a friend, and as a person, and as a tennis player, and I don't really see any competition, who's one or two. I'm doing what's best for myself, he's doing what's best for himself, I think you guys publicly perceive it a little bit differently, and it's I think not a good thing because ... it doesn't matter."
In fact, the question had been intended not as one about rivalry but about attention, and whether Tomic enjoyed the fact that, despite boasting his highest Wimbledon seeding of 19th, four below Kyrgios', it was perhaps helpful to be soaking up less of the spotlight than in previous years.
"Me and Nick are great friends off-court, and me, personally, this stuff doesn't bother me, but maybe people are talking about him more," Tomic conceded. "Obviously I've had my incident, he's had his, I'm better off being not in incidents and trying to be a positive person, but sometimes you can't control this and things are gonna happen, but me, I don't personally look too much on who's more in the media, because it's really not my focus."
That, for the moment, is Verdasco, the unseeded-but-still-dangerous Spaniard whom Tomic toppled in a tight three-setter at the Queen's Club this month to extend his career advantage to 4-1. Quite how this head-to-head record has happened, the Australian is not sure.
"Me personally, I don't like playing left-handers," Tomic said. "Me, how I have a 4-1 record against him, I don't know, so it's a really tough match, it's a player I didn't want to play, but now I have to play him I have to get ready and I have to look at what I did the last few times and last week in Queen's, and just use those little things that's going to make me beat him again.
"The guy's very dangerous, he's beaten everyone, and sometimes against him you have no rhythm and especially a match like this where he knows he hasn't beaten me the past few times. So he's going to go out there and swing harder, go for more risks and that's going to give me more pressure on my service games, so I just have to be ready and know this stuff before the match takes place."
Kyrgios has his own challenges. After the niggling, fiddling, Stepanek – whom he upset on debut at the 2013 French Open – would come accomplished grasscourter Dustin Brown, then 22nd seed and three-time quarter-finalist Feliciano Lopez, before a potential clash with former champion Andy Murray.
"He's [Stepanek] a good friend of mine and I played him a long time ago in my first-ever grand slam match and he's always been a guy that's been friendly to me and he actually helped me a little bit over this year not as a coach but just in general when I needed him to help and advise," Kyrgios said after his Saturday exhibition at the Boodles in Buckinghamshire. "It's going to be a lot of fun and I've already messaged him about it and we're both good mates so it's going to be fun out there."
For Tomic, happy to have ended a typically unproductive claycourt season, comes the confidence that this Wimbledon lead-up, including a semi-final appearance at Queen's, has been one of his best. The All England Club is really where it all began in 2011 for the then teenager who reached the last eight as a qualifier, and the feeling of returning to the grasscourt slam is like no other.
"Me, ever since I was 18 or 17, coming back here after the surgeries, whether I was 60, 70 in the world playing tough first-round matches against quality players I was still having that feeling this is one of my favourite tournaments to play," said Tomic, who would face Gastao Elias of Portugal in the second round, and probably dual grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka in the fourth.
"Obviously last year being seeded [27th] here, and I think also in 2012 I was also seeded makes me feel good. Especially this year, I'm a high seed, and I can do some damage, so I have to look at those memories in the past and hopefully the tough first round I can win and after that open up the draw."
