Column: Bernard Tomic might have won more than a U.S. Open match

It was the ultimate Aussie audition here Thursday, and it took place in the most dramatic of circumstances. They finished at night, at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, and did so out on the venerable and historic Grandstand court, which will be torn down before next year.

The short story is, young Australian Bernard Tomic beat old Australian Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5. It was 3 hours and 28 minutes of tension and grinding.

Tomic is 22, Hewitt 34. Tomic has not won a major. but he’s an up-and-comer and seeded 24th here. Hewitt has won two majors, Wimbledon in 2002 and this tournament in 2001. He is ranked 355th, and was playing here for the last time. He will retire, fittingly, after January’s Australian Open.

There was so much “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” going on out there that you’d think they were playing for a Foster’s.

It was classic David versus Goliath. Hewitt is short and sturdy at 5 feet 11. Tomic is long and lean at 6-5. But in the end, David’s slingshot finally misfired.

And it was so much more. This one had more story lines than a John Grisham library.

Australia will play a Davis Cup semifinal starting Sept. 18 against Andy Murray and Great Britain in Scotland. Unlike the rest of the world, Davis Cup is not shrugged off in Australia.

Hewitt is a likely member of that Davis Cup team. He usually plays doubles with big-serving Sam Groth. The temperamental and often-in-trouble Nick Kyrgios, who has already lost here, is one likely singles player and the other remains to be seen.

Tomic, as the current highest ranking Aussie, would be an obvious choice, but there has been trouble, as there has been with Kyrgios, who is under probation on the tour for yelling, vulgarly, at Stan Wawrinka during a match that Wawrinka’s girlfriend had been with another Aussie player.

Kyrgios, who uttered his immature foolishness with microphones turned on, will have to pay a fine if he slips once more. Tough disciplinarians, these tennis officials. For a murder, you miss a tournament.

But Kyrgios did a mea culpa, Aussie Davis Cup officials accepted it and he probably will play against Great Britain.

Tomic has been the bigger headache.

At Wimbledon this year, after a loss to Novak Djokovic, he came to the interview room and ripped Tennis Australia, including, by name, top official and beloved Pat Rafter. The Aussies suspended him for the Davis Cup quarterfinal match, which they won.

It was not their first go-around with Tomic. He has been controversial since his days as a junior, with his outspoken father, John, right alongside.

Tomic once had Australian development funds taken away for lack of effort in a match. He and his father once got in a screaming match with Aussie officials because he had been put out for a late match at the Australian Open that finished at 2:38 a.m. The Tomics said that wasn’t fair for a 17-year old, and John Tomic threatened to send his son to play for Croatia.

John McEnroe has accused him, on the air, of tanking matches, and when pressed afterward on the issue, Tomic told a Reuters reporter he didn’t like the questioning and said, almost threateningly, “I’ll remember you.”

He has been pulled over for various driving violations, including one when he failed to stop for police in Australia, drove home, ran into his house and his father confronted police, accusing them of stalking his son and being “un-Australian.”

Perhaps most memorable, and most germane to Thursday’s night’s match, was the report from Wimbledon in 2009. Hewitt had his team invite Tomic to hit with him in practice. The word came back to Hewitt that Tomic’s team said “he wasn’t good enough” to hit with Tomic.

Tomic has denied that, but it got great play in Australia, obviously. At the time Tomic was a junior player, ranked No. 354 in the world, and Hewitt was a two-time major champion, preparing for a fourth-round match at Wimbledon.

Hewitt and Tomic didn’t speak for years, but Hewitt says they are great friends now and that he has been helping him with his game.

That’s why both said, before Thursday’s match, that it would be “awkward.”

Oh yes. Guess who is at the top of the list to replace Wally Masur as Australia’s Davis Cup coach? Hewitt.

So this dramatic match was also a lesson being given. How Tomic played, hung in, behaved, all were being watched closely.

Wherever they were, the likes of Rafter, Masur, Rod Laver, Fred Stolle, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe — all the legends — were probably watching. Tomic wasn’t just playing Hewitt, he was auditioning for Aussie greats who do not look fondly on the behavior history of some of their current youngsters.

Tomic serves big, hits big and got through the first two sets comfortably. But Hewitt is, and always has been, irrepressible. Midway through the third set, he started to get to everything and hit everything back. He was, as always, the worm you can cut, but it won’t stop squirming.

“I try to get everything out of myself that I can,” Hewitt said afterward.

He had two match points in the fifth set, and the crowd was near delirious in backing him.

In the last few games, Tomic, 12 years younger, started to cramp. To his credit, he kept trying, kept fighting, kept his poise. At 5-6, 15-40, Hewitt saved Tomic’s first match point with an overhead. But on the next one, he hit wide and it was over.

Afterward, Tomic said, “Everybody here thinks he’s a legend, and I’m one of them.”

You can bet lots of important people in Tennis Australia were watching and listening. You might also assume Tomic not only made it to the third round, but to a spot on his country’s Davis Cup team as well.

bill.dwyre@LATimes.com

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes