Bernard Tomic! Yesterday’s man, it seemed, or maybe not. Not many remember the young guy who waltzed into tennis with bags of natural talent, leading to quite a few headlines. Ironically, headlines came to define his career to date and not all for the right reasons. In fact, they were rarely for the right reasons despite having the talent to do so.
Bernard Tomic: The Tennis Player
His qualities were obvious following early dominance in the juniors that saw him win two Junior Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2008 and the US Open a year later. But perhaps those with longer memories will remember him best for his 2011 Wimbledon run, which saw him come through qualifying and slice and dice his way to the quarterfinals, where it required a certain Novak Djokovic to halt his run in four competitive sets.
The Australian’s tennis was a mesmerising blend of unusual deception, employing unorthodox shot mechanics involving absurd court geometry, minimal back swings, and the ability to change pace at will, all encapsulated into what seemed an effortless game that rhythm-based opponents found a nightmare to play against. This was all powered by exceptional court IQ, as rather than overpower players, he took them apart piece by piece until there was nothing left for his opponent but to submit to his will.
By 2017, aged 23, he had bagged 4 ATP titles and had already reached world No. 17 in an era that many believed was the most competitive the sport has ever witnessed. That was the brilliance of the man born in Stuttgart, Germany, to parents from what used to be Yugoslavia but went on to represent Australia. But, unfortunately, for all his brilliance, as pointed out, the stories became less and less about his tennis and more about things that tennis purists and fans of the young man would not have enjoyed reading.
Bernard Tomic: Everything Else In Between
What followed the brilliance was essentially a case of off-court drama and on-court mental check-outs hijacking the narrative. Following his failure to qualify for the main draw of the 2018 Australian Open, when asked by a journalist the impact it’ll have on his career, Tomic responded:
I just count money, that’s all I do. I count my millions. You go do what I did. You go make 13–14 million. Good luck, guys. Bye bye
He also holds the record for the shortest completed ATP match since records began in 1991, when he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the 2014 Miami Open in just 28 minutes and 20 seconds, winning only 13 points across the entire match. There were a series of matches in which the Australian appeared to not be giving it his best effort, earning him the moniker “Tomic the tank engine“.
Following his tame 79-minute first-round defeat at Wimbledon against Mischa Zverev in 2017, he admitted to being bored on the court. He was subsequently fined. Two years later, at the same event, he took things a step further, losing in only 58 minutes to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tomic noticeably refused to chase down balls during the match and was stripped of his entire prize money, a whopping $56,000. Several other similar incidents plagued his career.
The drama was not limited to antics in and around the court. His running feud with Lleyton Hewitt is public information, having once described Hewitt as not good enough when Hewitt invited him to practice. Their ongoing battles led to Tomic being ostracised from the Australian Davis Cup team. There were even several run-ins with police and the law. In truth, if we were to detail all of Tomic’s transgressions, this article would be setting its own record for the longest article ever written on this site.
The Journeyman: Long Road Back to Redemption
All of this, unsurprisingly, led to a career that basically went downhill. But what makes his story wild right now is that when most guys with his past ATP profile, money, and personality would have permanently walked away, Tomic didn’t. Instead, after dropping out of the 800 in 2022, Tomic went deep into the mud. The last few years of his career have seen him embroiled in various ITF futures and ATP challengers all over the world.
For a man who has so often expressed disinterest in the sport, his persistence in slugging it out has been impressive, so much so that it hasn’t been lost on Hewitt, who admitted as much despite saying he didn’t know why the 33-year-old was still playing. And while he can’t be the only one pondering the question, Tomic continues to plug away. And after eight years, he won his biggest title since 2018, this July at the Lincoln Challenger. Speaking after his victory, he had this to say:
“I’ll be as honest as I can: about 10 days ago I hit a bit of a brick wall, maybe two weeks ago. I said this was going to be my last year, so I guess I have to reassess a few things now,” Tomic said, cracking a smile. “Now that I won, I’m going to have to go back to the table. I’m probably going to play another 20 years,” he joked.
His continued efforts and refusal to throw in the towel have elevated him to an ATP ranking of 170. And while he may be in the twilight of his career at 33 years old, he would certainly still have a few more years left in the tank. If he continues on this new path and mindset, he could very well return to the top-100 before the year runs out. It would make quite the turnaround for a player who was previously expected to be a top-100 mainstay.
We’ve seen quite the stories in this old sport of tennis, but this would be quite some story if the once mercurial prodigy can return to the big time. This might be another chapter in the Bernard Tomic story worth keeping an eye on. As always, time will tell!
Main Photo Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
