Ben Simmons photographed courtside at Wimbledon a ‘spectacularly bad look’

After turning his back on the Olympics following a disastrous NBA Playoffs campaign with the 76ers, Ben Simmons is courting more criticism with his latest outing.

After turning his back on the Boomers following a disastrous NBA Playoffs campaign with the Philadelphia 76ers, Ben Simmons has raised eyebrows among the Australian basketball community after being spotted with a new flame at Wimbledon.

The images might irk some Australian basketball fans still reeling from Simmons’ shock decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics to instead focus on his basketball skills during a pivotal off-season for the three-time NBA All-Star -but one Aussie great has warned not to jump to conclusions just yet.

What was hoped to be Simmons’ triumphant return to the Australian national team, and a last push for this golden generation of stars to break through and win an Olympic medal, turned out to be little more than another mirage.

Maya Jama and Ben Simmons watching Novak Djokovic

The Boomers of course were supportive and understanding of Simmons’ call, and said he’d be welcomed back with open arms in the future.

“It is a pretty rough time for him right now and I know it is something that he wanted to do, but the timing just hasn’t worked,” said coach Brian Goorjian.

“The best thing for everybody right now is for him to go on and develop that skill package and improve in a couple of areas for his next season in the NBA, but the Boomers are always here for him.”

And so, while the Boomers sweat it out in a pre-Games camp in Los Angeles, seeing Simmons courtside at Wimbledon watching world No.1 Novak Djokovic with 26-year-old BBC television and radio presenter Maya Jama is a spectacularly bad look.

Which is not to say that Simmons shouldn’t be able to enjoy a normal life in his NBA off-season – and spending a day at the tennis is one of life’s great pleasures.

And perhaps he was up at 6am, putting up 1000 shots on the courts of south-west London.

But after pulling out to focus on his skills, Simmons has to recognise how this will be viewed.

Maya Jama and Ben Simmons attend day 7 of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships

While acknowledging the scenerio might be “hard to digest for people that are passionate about the Boomers”, Australian great Shane Heal said it was too early to jump to conclusions about his off-season plans.

“I just think it is always hard for the general punter to understand how that happens,” Heal told News Corp.

“He is sitting at Wimbledon and he could be with the Boomers, and he has said he needs to work on his game.

“That is just hard to digest for people that are passionate about the Boomers, but I think it is easy to jump to conclusions and I think you have to let the time play out.

“Ben could have a plan in place where he is going to take a two-week holiday and then 12 weeks of training.

“I think you have to understand the whole holistic view of what he is going through and what process might be in place.

“Because I think if we come to conclusions too quickly (and) he does have a plan in place, he is putting in the work and he does fix it, then that strategy is ok.

“Because you do need time mentally and physically to recover from an NBA season. It is tough and it wears you down, so I don’t begrudge Ben for taking a break.”

Because for all the hard work behind the scenes that have been put in place to smooth things over with Simmons, cracks have started to appear in the wake of his latest snub, with Boomers legend Andrew Bogut clipping Simmons for ‘dangling the carrot’ and filling Australian fans with hope about his availability.

Scenes like those on centre court will only give more fuel to the doubters who believe Simmons’ interest in representing the Boomers is not genuine.

Simmons endured a tough end to his NBA season

IS KYRGIOS HEADING TO TOKYO?

Meanwhile, another genuine superstar Australia will be hoping makes his way to Tokyo was also at Wimbledon this week.

After pulling off an impressive five-set win over 21st seed Ugo Humbert in the first round, Nick Kyrgios succumbed to an abdominal injury in a third-round exit.

Kyrgios is now recuperating in the Bahamas, as he’d flagged he would do in the lead-up to Wimbledon, but whether he dons the green and gold in Tokyo is anyone’s guess.

“If I’m to play the Olympics I want to do it the right way,” Kyrgios said of the prospect of playing in front of small crowds and with heavy restrictions on athlete movements.

“The Olympics, the way it’s going to go on, is not the Olympics.”

But wherever he ends up later this month – Tokyo or Washington DC, where he’s entered to defend his most recent ATP title victory – the enigmatic star also received warm support from the Australian Olympic Committee.

“We would still love to see Nick over at these Games,” Australia’s chef de mission Ian Chesterman said on Monday.

“He knows he is welcome at these Games, and I would still think it would be a fantastic outcome for tennis and our team if he was there.”

Originally published as Ben Simmons photographed courtside at Wimbledon a ‘spectacularly bad look’