Alex Bogdanovic claims his withdrawal from Great Britain's Davis Cup team may have caused his Wimbledon omission.
Davis Cup call caused Wimbledon snub says British number two
Alex Bogdanovic claims his withdrawal from Great Britain's Davis Cup tie against Turkey next month played a part in his omission from Wimbledon's wild-card list.
Ranked 166th in the world, Bogdanovic is well within the Lawn Tennis Association's usual cut-off point of 250 for recommending wild cards for home players.
But the British number two was absent from the initial list released by the All England Club on Monday while Jamie Baker, who is ranked 254th, was included.
Despite saying last year that Bogdanovic was unlikely to get another chance after eight first-round defeats, it was thought the LTA might relent due to the dearth of British players at the top of the sport.
The 26-year-old has also been overlooked for the Davis Cup since 2008 following seven straight defeats.
New captain Leon Smith however, said in April he would be prepared to give him another chance in next month's tie but Bogdanovic turned down the offer.
And following Monday's announcement the 26-year-old believes his decision not to play has counted against him. Bogdanovic said he had not yet been offered an explanation as to why he was not being given a wild card.
Angry
"I was speaking to Leon Smith earlier," he said. "The Davis Cup issue came up. He actually asked me in February, saying, 'I want you to play'.
"I just said, 'I want to see how I'm playing at the moment and what my ranking is at the time, and I'm going to make a decision from there'.
"He said, 'Okay, we'll try to give you some wild cards to help you out'. When I told him, I think in Nottingham (last week), that I won't be playing for this tie because I need to get my ranking up, he was obviously disappointed with that.
"He said I wasn't going to get pretty much any wild cards, that even though he doesn't make the decision for the All England Club, that's the All England Club. I said, 'That's fine'."
Bogdanovic however, insists he is not angry at missing out on a ninth wild card, admitting it was a tough decision not to join the Davis Cup team.
"Even though I did meet the criteria, it was their decision," he continued. "They felt like I didn't make use of the wild cards. So I've got to play qualifiers and earn my way into the main draw.
Honour
"I don't know what the story Leon was coming out with was but it's not like I don't want to play for my country.
"It's always been a great honour for me to represent my country. Just because I'm not playing this tie doesn't mean I will not play Davis Cup."
Bogdanovic is unhappy with the LTA's reasoning behind his funding cut at the end of last season and does not feel supported by the governing body.
"We had a meeting and (player director) Steven Martens basically said the reason for that is I wasn't working hard enough throughout the whole year," he said.
"I thought that was just so disrespectful because that's very untrue. He said my intensity wasn't good enough.
"It was something that hurt me a lot, because I'm out there trying to give it my best shot to break the top 100 for the last eight years.
"If it was as easy as that, everyone would be top 100, as good as Andy Murray is. But it's not. He just said, 'You're 25 and you should have been in the top 100'.
"I found out they obviously didn't believe in me anymore. So I knew I had to go out there and get my ranking up. That's the only thing you can do. That's what I'm trying to do."
He added: "I believe I can be a top 100 player. I still have the passion for the game. I'm 26 but I feel like I've got another six or seven years in my tennis career."
