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#1 ·
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/t...os-dream-crashes/story-e6frfgao-1226377828715

Bernard Tomic's Roland Garros dream crashes

BERNARD Tomic's dream match-up with Andy Murray has been put on ice after the Australian bombed out of the French Open.

As Murray laboured with a back injury on centre court, Tomic blew a golden opportunity to set up the third-round clash he wanted with the Scot when he lost to Santiago Giraldo 6-4 6-1 6-3 in the second round last night.

"It always happens when you think of that match ahead of you. It comes back and bites you," Tomic said.

"That's why you've just got to focus on the players ahead of you and I knew today was going to be tough if I was going to win, but he actually played well and broke my momentum sort of and there wasn't really a lot I could do.

"My serve started collapsing and after that it was a one-way street for him after the second set."

Murray, who beat the Queenslander in the semi-finals on the way to winning the Brisbane International in January, kept up his end of the bargain.
He came back from a set down against Finn Jarkko Nieminen to win 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2.

Everything was in Tomic's favour before his match.

The No.25 seed had beaten Giraldo just a few weeks ago on clay in Rome and entered last night's encounter confident he could again defeat the Colombian, who is ranked 50th in the world.

But 32 unforced errors and an inability to make the most of his chances cost the 19-year-old Queenslander dearly.

Tomic had three opportunities to break Giraldo in the second game of the match but failed and then dropped his next service game.

After the Colombian easily won the eighth game for a 5-3 lead, a frustrated Tomic began talking to his racquet strings, asking "why?" and he later said the tension was "a bit off".
 
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#2 ·
While content with his progress on clay this season, Tomic was happy to leave the red dirt behind and head for greener pastures after bombing out with a flurry of unforced errors.

"I can't wait to get on the grass," the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finalist said.

"It's now time for me to play well. I'm very confident on grass."

Tomic won seven matches on clay over the past two months - having only had one previous success in his entire three-year pro career - and is feeling upbeat before taking a week off and then warming up for a return to the All England Club with appearances at Eastbourne and Halle.

"Grass is my favourite surface and I believe this has helped me a lot, this claycourt run the last six weeks for my body," the 19-year-old said.

"I'm very, very fit now ... the one week I take off now and train for two weeks, I think when Wimbledon comes I'll be ready."

Tomic's exit from Roland Garros, though, meant he failed to live up to his 25th seeding and he will be under pressure to defend a bundle of rankings points at Wimbledon after his charge last year to the quarters.

The loss also dashed hopes of a third-round showdown in Paris with Andy Murray.

"It always happens when you think of that match ahead of you - it comes back and bites you," Tomic said.

"That's why you've just got to focus on the players ahead of you.

"I knew today was going to be tough if I was going to win, but he actually played well and broke my momentum sort of and there wasn't really a lot I could do."
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-...ussie-hope-at-french-open-20120601-1zkzq.html
 
#4 ·
Bidmeade answers Tomic’s call for help

VICTORIAN tennis player David Bidmeade got more than he bargained for while in Darwin competing at the SkyCity NT Open on Saturday — an invitation to travel to Germany to train with Aussie world number 32, Bernard Tomic.

Bidmeade, 28, was finally connected with Tomic’s father John, who is coach and manager of the rising tennis star, and he offered the Victorian a chance of a lifetime.

‘‘I spoke with John and he said they wanted me in Germany as early as possible and have booked me on a plane out of Melbourne,’’ Bidmeade said.

Bidmeade will be in Tomic’s corner for two grass court tournaments leading up to Wimbledon, between June 25 and July 8.

‘‘I’m not sure of precisely what my role will be, but I expect it will be hitting plenty of balls at practice, and accompanying Bernard during fitness sessions.’’
 
#7 ·
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sport/tomic-in-doubt-for-wimbledon-20120613-208pd.html

Tomic in doubt for Wimbledon

Young gun Bernard Tomic is in doubt for Wimbledon as he continues to battle a virus he has carried since exiting the French Open last week.

The Australian teenager played at Roland Garros for the first time as a seed in a Grand Slam before crashing out in the second round.

But the All England Club has been kinder to Tomic who become the youngest player since Boris Becker to reach the quarter-finals there last year, before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

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However his 2012 campaign is now in doubt after he was forced to withdraw from his opening round match again Tommy Haas at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany blaming illness.

Tomic withdrew trailing 5-2 in the first set.

Wimbledon starts on June 25.
 
#8 ·
Tomic all set for Wimbledon

Bernard Tomic’s much anticipated return to Wimbledon is on track despite reports suggesting he may withdraw.

Tomic retired from his first-round match against Tommy Haas at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle on Tuesday citing an abdominal disorder.

Despite this, Tomic has totally dismissed speculation that his Wimbledon campaign may be in doubt, explaining that he simply suffered some bad stomach cramps and is expected to play in Eastbourne followed by Wimbledon.

The AEGON International in Eastbourne begins on 17 June. Wimbledon begins on 25 June.
http://www.tennis.com.au/news/2012/06/14/tomic-all-set-for-wimbledon
 
#9 ·
A very, very long feature article on Bernard in this week's The Weekend Australian Magazine but an excellent read:

Bernard's bluff
BY: CHIP LE GRAND From: The Australian June 16, 2012 12:00AM

JUST don't get Bernard Tomic started about cars. Not that car; any car. As he warns from the outset, once he gets on a roll he can talk the wheels off a Range Rover.

He is hardly the first young bloke to develop an automotive obsession but the thing that sets Tomic apart is that at just 19, he can afford the latest marque from any showroom floor. The only thing stopping him is his job. "It is too tough for a tennis player," he explains. "You don't have time - you are travelling and the tour is so long. You are never there. It is just a waste. One day in the future, hopefully, I will have a few."

Tomic runs through the models he likes, the ones he doesn't and the one that really turns his crank; his latest dream car. The bright orange Beamer that caused so much consternation with the Gold Coast police last summer has disappeared both from the Tomic family garage and Bernard's thinking. Tomic now spends as much time in his Monte Carlo apartment as his parents' house and his new surrounds have exposed him to another level of four-wheel indulgence. "Right now, I would love to have ... it would have to be a good Rolls-Royce convertible," he says. For the hottest young player in world tennis it seems a little fogeyish, the idea of him behind the wheel of something so stately, so staid. But as Tomic says, his tastes have matured since he was a suburban kid with Ferrari fantasies. In his own way, it sounds like Bernard Tomic is growing up. But enough about cars.

Tomic shifts to get comfortable in a chair in the players' lounge in Madrid's Caja Magica tennis venue, a gigantic, galvanised steel cube that rises incongruously from the flat expanses of the city's southern boondocks. He's here for the Madrid Masters, one of the big clay court tournaments leading into the French Open. For the first time, Tomic has signed up for a full European season on his least favoured surface. It is a six-week slog that takes him from Monte Carlo to Barcelona, Munich, Madrid, Rome and Paris before he knocks the brick dust from his shoes and returns to Wimbledon, where last year he reached the quarter-finals - becoming the youngest player to make the last eight since Boris Becker retained his title in 1986.

Tomic isn't scheduled to play a match today. Instead, he has spent an hour or so on a practice court and as much time stretching and working in the gym. He practises against Ivan Navarro, a thick-legged Spaniard who earns his living mostly on the doubles tour. As he torments Navarro for a set, Tomic's London-based manager, Fraser Wright, points out the improvements since January, when we watched Tomic's run through the Australian Open: stronger legs delivering more power in the serve, a more muscled right arm capable of cracking a bigger forehand. Tomic is more man than boy now, his official height 193cm, his shoulders broadening and his voice deep. Yet he is still at heart a kid playing his favourite game. When Navarro queries whether a serve was in or out, Tomic shrugs his shoulders. "Who cares?" he says with a grin. "I'll ace you with this one ... "

Tomic's father and coach, John, has returned to the Gold Coast for a few days so Wright, a former player and coach, is in charge of the details; ensuring Tomic practises and eats the right food at the right time, that he keeps up his gym work and gets enough sleep. After a massage and a meal - one of four he'll sit down to for the day - Tomic is at ease, his loose limbs wrapped in the folds of a bright blue tracksuit. As players come and go from the lounge he talks expansively about family and tennis. About being the family business.

The official Tomic story starts with a made-for-TV moment where a seven-year-old goes to a garage sale with 50 cents in his pocket and buys his first tennis racquet. This is the story Tomic will get asked about on breakfast television in the UK if he wins Wimbledon, or by US talk-show hosts if he wins at Flushing Meadows. The more complicated version begins with a migrant family discovering their son has a rare talent. It is a talent that promises all of them a life beyond what could ever be provided by dad John Tomic driving taxis, and mum Ady working as a biomedical scientist. Coaching Bernard will soon become John's full-time job, while Ady will study and work to tie things over until their son makes it big. Tomic's younger sister Sara, now an emerging tennis player in her own right, will get used to Bernard and her father being away for weeks overseas. The one thing that isn't discussed is what happens if Bernard doesn't make it.

"She would massage me after I played tennis," Tomic says of his mother, who didn't speak a word of English when she arrived in Australia in 1996 with John and three-year-old Bernard from Germany (where John and Ady had settled after leaving Croatia). "She would sleep during the day and study at night and work. My father was a taxi driver and then he stopped and was helping me and playing tennis with me and coaching me. That is where it all started. I can only dream of the things I can have one day after my career. It is funny how you start from nothing, to be like one of the guys now at the top who can have almost anything in the world. That is when you make it in life; when you start from something not as big and you make it."

There was little money to spare in those early days on the Gold Coast but John Tomic had a talent for making a dollar stretch. If Bernard's smartest purchase was a second-hand racquet, John's was a $100 used photocopier, with which he made duplicates of every book about tennis, coaching and sport he could find at public libraries from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. If you visit the Tomic household you can still see the copied books neatly shelved and sorted according to information about forehands, backhands and broader coaching philosophies. Most have highlighted passages and dog-eared pages. "We didn't have enough money to buy books," says John. "But if I want to go to Everest, I have to ask somebody what is the best way."

What no one can explain is why, within weeks of picking up his first racquet, Bernard Tomic was able to walk into a local tournament on the Gold Coast and beat older kids, some of whom had been coached for several years. As he kept on beating them, up and down the Gold Coast and then across Queensland, it was a question that started to tug at the tempers of other kids and their parents and coaches. Tomic didn't hit as hard as other players. He didn't bombard them with his serve or overpower them with his forehand. Yet he was a nightmare to play against. By the age of 11, he had beaten the best Queensland and Australia had to offer and travelled to Florida, where he won the first of an unprecedented three Orange Bowl titles, a tournament for the world's most precocious talent. By 13, he had sponsors to his name and a contract with the International Management Group. Shortly after his 15th birthday, he became the youngest player in history to win the Australian Open boys' singles title. By 16 Tomic had leapt into full view, pictured in an airborne pose in ESPN magazine's "Next" edition, a perennial dedicated to picking tomorrow's sports stars. Beneath the picture he is quoted in Schwarzenegger deadpan: "I like playing older guys. They have more to lose."

All the while, John Tomic was firmly in charge; overseeing the development of Tomic's game, deciding when and where he would play, setting goals, seeking advice. He arranged with the principal at The Southport School for his son to finish classes early so he could get to practice. He'd pick Bernard up and make sure he ate something on the short drive between school and the courts. The conversation was not what the youngster had learnt that day, but what he needed to learn that afternoon. After practice, John Tomic would devour the latest books he'd copied until the early hours of the morning. In one of those books he came across a quote from Henry Ford that has stayed with him: "The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability."

"It has been a whole ride for me, but why I have gotten to where I am today is definitely because of my dad," says Bernard. "He was there from the start to help me. I wouldn't even be playing tennis if he didn't help me. He would wake me up to play and train and travel. A lot of players stop at a young age. My dad was very strict. He is a great guy and a great father but he is a very disciplined guy. That is the way it should be, I think. You don't get to the top if you are easy and relaxed and everything is all right."

No one could accuse John Tomic of being an easy man. Craig Tiley remembers the first time he spoke to him. It was seven years ago and Tiley had just been appointed director of player development at Tennis Australia. The conversation was over the phone and difficult. Bernard, at age 12, was playing overseas on a Tennis Australia-funded trip and John Tomic was travelling with him. Tiley can't recall what John had said or done, only that he had behaved badly enough to warrant the phone call. It wouldn't be the last time. Tiley told him that he could no longer stay with Bernard and that he had to go home immediately, at his own expense. Tiley then booked a flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast to meet the man who had already developed a fearsome reputation within the corridors of Tennis Australia.

Now Tennis Australia's director of tennis, Tiley is fresh from a boardroom meeting when he sits down with The Weekend Australian Magazine to talk Tomic. Tennis Australia is an organisation with grand ambitions, not the least of which is a $366 million redevelopment of the Melbourne Park precinct which each year for the two weeks of the Australian Open becomes the centre of world tennis and the national sporting psyche. As for what Australian tennis might achieve on the court - winning slams, the Davis Cup - no player, not even reigning US Open champion Sam Stosur, is as central to the plan as Tomic. This is why, whenever John Tomic calls or sends a text message at 3am from some tournament somewhere in the world, Tiley will always take it.

"The first thing he always asks is, 'How's your family?'" Tiley says. "Then if we have a crap thing to deal with we get that part of the conversation out of the way and then we go right to it. Other parents I deal with are just rude. They just pick up the phone and start screaming down the line. John screams, but it is just his passion and desire to have success.

"I have never supported John's behaviour or Bernard's behaviour when it is not satisfactory and he has been disciplined. He has a track history of being disciplined. However, they have always responded, always apologised when they were supposed to. Remember, Bernard is looked at more critically than anyone else. One, because he is now our best player; two, because he is one of the best young players in the world; and three, because he loves the limelight. That is why he is so good. He is just enthralled by that. John is more about getting the business done, getting results. I think in many cases there has been a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding of John, a misunderstanding of Bernard and a misunderstanding of how they go about their business."

The essential rule to understanding Team Tomic is this: John Tomic will not accept any situation where he believes Bernard is not being given his due. He says the reason he was sent home from that overseas trip is that he suspected the Tennis Australia coach in charge was favouring two kids at Bernard's expense - and he let his feelings be known. He is neither apologetic nor embarrassed about it. "When you see something that doesn't work for your kid you have to react. You have to say, 'Look, I am not happy with this.'"

John Tomic, who still speaks in thick Balkan tones, says there are times when he isn't well understood by Australia's predominantly anglo tennis officialdom. "If I am talking a little bit loudly and talking with my hands, people think I am abusing somebody. That is not true. This is my culture. It is natural." But there is one thing about him that should be clear by now: he says what he thinks. "There are people who sometimes don't like what I say because I say always what I feel and I don't have nothing in the pocket that I hide. That is me. It is hard to change your heart."

This is why, five months on, his still finds his voice rising in anger when asked about the events of last summer, when Bernard was pulled over three times in an afternoon by Queensland Police for allegedly breaching the conditions of the restricted licence he had been granted to drive his high-powered BMW M3, a car normally off limits to drivers of his age. It was the last week of January and the sweat had barely dried on Tomic from his star turn at the Australian Open. Where many Australians were previously unsure what to make of Tomic, this was the tournament where we'd gotten to know his courtside quirks and, if crowd and television figures were any guide, decided the kid was OK. At Melbourne Park, the buzz was all about Bernie.

Yet back on the Gold Coast, it was no happy homecoming. Police had tailed Tomic home, alleging he'd failed to stop when they tried to pull him over. Tomic locked himself in the house, TV cameras soon arrived to film the suburban stand-off. John Tomic knows his son isn't without fault but he still can't understand what he did to attract the attention of the cops and national media for several days in a row. "If Bernard was drunk or Bernard was speeding or Bernard passed a red light, pull him up," John Tomic says. "But he didn't do nothing. Bernard was at the light, with his friends, waiting for it to turn green." In the saga that ensued, Tomic was charged with minor traffic offences and sold his Beamer at auction. He'll return to the Gold Coast in November to fight the charges arising from the incident.

There have been a series of well documented blow-ups between John Tomic and tennis officials that evoke the stereotype of an ugly tennis parent. The common thread is that, whenever he suspects his son is being cheated, he refuses to stand idly by: dragging his son off court from a suburban tournament in Perth in 2008, when the umpire failed to foot-fault his opponent; rounding on Tiley and Tennis Australia in 2010 for scheduling 17-year-old Bernard to play late at night at the Australian Open. "He still thinks it is my fault that Bernard lost the match," Tiley says. "He will never forgive me for that." Bernard Tomic's comments about the "ridiculous" scheduling of the 2010 night match earned him a public rebuke from Tiley. His decision to forfeit the match in Perth triggered disciplinary proceedings that jeopardised his place in the following year's Australian Open.

Having dealt with John Tomic over a long period of time, Tiley believes he is driven by method rather than madness. For years, Tiley had been quietly encouraging John to bring in another coach and accept a reduced role in Team Tomic. Now, he is convinced the best thing for Bernard is for John to continue as coach for as long as Bernard plays. Only John Tomic can get the best out of his son, he says. On both these points, Bernard fully agrees. He says the public stereotype of his father as a track-suited ogre is hurtful and wrong.

"No one knows him like I do," he says. "I love him for who he is and what he has done. I always will. You see criticism of your father and how this is not working - how are you going to deal with that? I read the papers and see it and sometimes it is funny, that is what people actually think. Dad is a very different guy when you actually meet him. To me, he is a great guy, a great person."

What we see or read about John and Bernard Tomic is sometimes no more than father and son having a moment. You might have seen YouTube footage of Bernard, in the middle of a difficult match in Miami recently, imploring the chair umpire to do something about his father, who was shown glowering in the stands. "He's annoying - I know he is my father but he is annoying me," Tomic is heard complaining. "I want him to leave, but how is that possible?" In the days that followed, speculation swirled over whether the relationship between father and son was fraying and whether Tomic would soon be seeking a new coach. Tomic explains it was nothing of the sort and had nothing to do with tennis. "That was like, 'Get out of my room, dad.' It wasn't telling your coach to go away. Nobody really knows what happened that day."

Like most father and son flare-ups, there is a back story to what happened in Miami. Earlier that day, at a time when Tomic should have been preparing to play a big match against David Ferrer, one of the world's top players, he had discovered that his hitting partner had come to work without any racquets. Tomic was annoyed but knew his father would be furious, so instead of warming up for the match Tomic was complicit in a Fawlty Towers-style cover-up to keep the absence of racquets and the ashen-faced hitting partner out of his father's view. John Tomic is nobody's fool and made his feelings known in the look he was sending Bernard from the stands. Here in Madrid several weeks later, it is a story that is 20 minutes in the telling, which is perhaps why Bernard Tomic's tongue-tied attempt to explain things at a press conference immediately after the match clouded rather than clarified matters. What this episode tells us about the 19-year-old is unremarkable; he is now at an age where he will occasionally push back against his father. "I thought, there is what happens behind the scenes the whole time, you just saw it publicly," Tiley says. "Bernard lets a lot of John's stuff go past him but once it annoys him, he goes in."

Neil Guiney has seen this side of Bernard too. Guiney turned 80 this year and has been coaching tennis since he was Bernard's age. Guiney remembers that when John Tomic first brought his seven-year-old son Bernard for a lesson, "you couldn't get a hat small enough to put on him". In contrast, John was large, emotional, and highly ambitious. "It was the very strict father and generally compliant son - it had to be," Guiney says. "It was a strong regime, John really was the boss." John Tomic sought out Guiney after another player he coached caught his eye at a junior tournament. It was a relationship that lasted for 10 years, one Guiney broke off more than once when his frustrations with Team Tomic, or theirs with him, boiled over. "John wanted to get into the action all the time. I used to lock him out of the courts when we started. I would try to get him to go shopping. He jumped the fence. I'd say, 'John, John, no, you have got to stay out, it is just a rule I have.' John is the only parent who has managed to get past this rule."

Each time Guiney quit Team Tomic, he would soon get a phone call from John coaxing him along to Bernard's next session. The last time Guiney worked with Bernard, in the lead-up to the 2010 Australian Open, he noticed a change. For starters, it was Bernard who invited him, rather than John. For the next few weeks they worked almost daily on repairing a weakness in his game. "Bernard was starting to have his own voice," Guiney says. "He would challenge things that John would want. It is what happens to all families." Without being asked by the coach, John spent less and less time on the practice court, leaving his son at work.

"They are more like brothers than father and son in lots of ways," Guiney reflects. "Most of the time they get on very well. John is still the boss but eventually, John is going to let go or Bernard is going to say, 'Listen Dad, I think I need to travel by myself.' I don't know if that would ever happen. Bernard has a good sense of humour and thank God he has. One of the reasons Bernard competes so well and keeps his calm is this tough upbringing. He had to put up with a lot in the way of discipline and schedules and John's personality. John can be smooth as silk but he can be very changeable. And you never know when it is going to happen."

John Tomic knows that in the intense environment of the professional tennis tour he needs to carefully manage his relationship with Bernard. When he was home on the Gold Coast recently he sought out legendary NRL coach Wayne Bennett for advice. Bennett said it was a hard job being both father and coach and he would need to find a balance between the two roles. John Tomic admits that finding that balance is difficult. "Off the court, he [Bernard] has his life, he is deciding lots of things," he says. "On the court, on the business, I am still trying to do discipline. Sometimes it is very hard but we both understand each other. When I see that I am a little bit hard I have to step back and let him decide. He is now turning himself into a man." And yes, John can see a time when he will no longer need to travel with Bernard. "In two years, when I hope he makes his target, I will take a step back. But now, he is still growing up."

There is no player in tennis quite like Bernard Tomic. In an era when top-100 players are mass produced from the tennis academies of Europe and the US, each equipped with a similar game and schooled with the same coaching philosophies, Tomic appears an outlier; a home-grown, idiosyncratic talent who would rather befuddle an opponent than blast him off the court. Tomic likes being different. The aim of his game it not to win but make the other guy lose. He loves being hard to play against, revels in the confusion he creates by draining the pace from a back court rally. He is the handbrake you've forgotten until you are halfway down to the shops; the hot drink prepared for a thirsty man. His job is to know exactly what you want and give you something else.

"My game is strange, a lot of people say, but it works out well," he says. "A lot of players don't like it and I can force a lot of errors out of them. That is what you want. You want the other guy to miss. When you get me out wide or hit a good shot, I will always give you the ball that you don't want. It makes them think, 'What's this?' That is why I think I get away with a lot of cheap shots. They are not as hard or powerful but they make them miss. Sometimes you don't have to win a point by hitting it hard. That is what I believe. You have to hit it where he doesn't like." Neil Guiney laughs down the phone line as he hears his essential coaching philosophy echoed in Tomic's words. "That is exactly right."

Todd Woodbridge first got to see Tomic's game up close three years ago when he travelled to New York with him for the US Open juniors. He has since coached him in Davis Cup, and now coaches for Tennis Australia. He says he has never known a player who can talk through exactly how he is going to win a point like Tomic. In an increasingly physical game, Tomic's greatest strength is how he out-thinks the bloke on the other side of the net. Added to this is what Woodbridge calls "old-fashioned flair" - a preparedness to take a chance on a shot less likely and occasionally, something that hasn't been tried before.

"There are parts of tennis I'm sure Bernard doesn't like," Woodbridge says. "The part of tennis Bernard likes is creating things on court. He loves coming up with a new shot. He loves saying, 'Did you see what I did with that ball?' That is the joy that tennis gives him. There is a shot he hits that I have never seen anyone else hit. It is a soft, inside-out forehand that almost looks like a drop shot but it is not. He looks like he is going to drive it but he pushes it across court and it fades away really low. That is his shot. He believes he owns that shot and he does, because it is his own creation."

The only thing Tomic is missing is a snappy name for his shot. From here on, it will be known as Bernard's Bluff. If you think Tomic can talk cars, just ask him about his shot. It is his favourite toy; his most precious keepsake. And he swears that in all the times he has played his bluff, only one player has ever hit a clean winner from it: Albert Montanes, earlier this year in Barcelona. "He has somehow clipped an angle winner," Tomic says. "I mean, one player has got a winner out of it. I remember exactly every time I hit that shot." For anyone who hasn't seen the shot, just wait for Wimbledon. "On grass, it is impossible once it goes over to get it because it gets there quick and the player doesn't read it. It is a weapon of mine, it really adds."

Tomic says he developed the shot absentmindedly, on the long hours he spent facing a ball machine fed by his father. When John Tomic wanted to stop to tell him something, Bernard would play his dinky little forehand to stop the ball dead. He now says he has a backhand version in production, which will be ready for selective release in time for next year's Australian Open.

Guiney is pleased but laments the short memories that abound in tennis. He points out that most of the great players in Australia's golden era of tennis in the 1950s and 1960s had a version of Bernard's Bluff. "It is something all these players ought to do," Guiney says. "If Bernard is unorthodox, it is because he has got more variety in this game than a lot of those other players. I call Bernard's game orthodox." John Tomic calls Guiney the best coach in the world. Guiney laughs at this, saying John is prone to exaggeration.

On the day we are talking, Tomic's deft hands and conjurer's tricks have moved him up the world rankings to 31, a spot that guarantees him a seed for the French Open (where he'll crash out in the second round). He has picked up a few more places in the countdown to Wimbledon (at the time of going to press he was ranked 29) but there is only one position he is interested in. Men's tennis is governed by three extraordinary talents in Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who between them have won every grand slam tournament but one for the past seven years. There is a commotion downstairs in the players' restaurant and we turn to watch the arrival of Djokovic, the world's No.1 player. A glad-hand of suits gathers around him, fussing, gesticulating, ushering him through. Despite the absurd attention, Djokovic merely smiles, nods, his back ramrod straight, his tennis gear clinging to his lean frame.

Tomic knows he can't bluff his way to where Djokovic is. He needs to toy less with his opponents and develop a ruthless, strike-first approach. After Tomic took a set off Djokovic in their quarter-final at Wimbledon last year, Djokovic marvelled at how cool the young Australian was in the hottest moments. The flipside is that against opponents he should easily beat, Tomic's game can turn stone cold. These are the times when Tomic, like the rest of us, gets bored at work. "It can cost you," Tomic says. "You have got to find - I have got to find - that level of always playing good."

Tomic looks at his watch and is surprised he has been talking for an hour and a half. It is the longest he has spent in an interview and as long as he usually likes to spend in the players' lounge, where the conversation too often turns on ranking points and racquets and who's coaching who and, well, tennis. In a remark that gives you an idea of the challenge John Tomic has ahead of him, Tomic says he can't be expected to play his best tennis if he is not having fun. That means time away from the game, whether it is spent looking up the latest car on the internet or his next girlfriend among his text messages. Does he enjoy fame? It is one of the few questions Tomic meets with a rote answer, saying that it is new, he is handling it well, that he has a lot to learn. Tiley has no doubt. "He likes talking tennis, he likes talking teenage stuff, and he likes being famous."

To help you decide, here's a little story from a few years ago, at the same Perth tournament where Tomic was pulled off court by his father. Unable to find a warm-up court where the tournament was being played in Sorrento, Tomic and his father drove to a neighbouring club at North Beach. A local coach who was running a practice session at the time takes up the story: "I was coaching on one of the courts and he saw a girl who I coached. She was quite a young, attractive kind of girl. He caught her eye and then got a tennis ball and put his name and phone number on the ball and bounced it to her. He wasn't lacking any confidence, that's for sure." In case you are wondering, she called.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/bernards-bluff/story-e6frg8h6-1226392580699
 
#11 ·
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...grand-slam-title/story-fnbe6xeb-1226397155386

Winning the Davis Cup is as important to Bernard Tomic as a grand slam title

BERNARD Tomic has declared Australia will beat Germany and return to its rightful place in the Davis Cup World Group when the two nations meet this year in a playoff tie in Hamburg.

Tomic, Australia's leading men's player, told The Weekend Australian Magazine that winning the Davis Cup now ranked as highly on his list of career goals as winning a major tournament. Tomic said he wanted to emulate Lleyton Hewitt by producing his best in Davis Cup.

"As much as I want to win a slam, I want to win for Australia as a team in the next two to three years," Tomic said.

"I hope Lleyton plays the next Davis Cup tie in Germany. I think he will. I need him there on my side to beat these boys. This is our chance. Last year we went down by a game at nightfall to get back into the group. Everyone in the team knows we belong in the World Group and this is our spot, even if it is on clay, to get back and to win."

Hewitt brought forward his scheduled return from radical foot surgery by a month to play at least one match on the red clay of Roland Garros, in part as preparation for the tie against Germany in September. Notwithstanding further injuries, he is a certain starter in Hamburg, where the German team will rely heavily on its top-ranked singles player Florian Mayer.

Tomic said he had embraced previous criticism from Australia captain Pat Rafter and coach Tony Roche about needing to work harder when in Davis Cup camp. Former Davis Cup coach Todd Woodbridge said it also was part of Rafter's job to tailor his approach to Tomic.

"It has always been that way," Woodbridge said. "The captain's role is to get the best players on the court, the best team for Australia, to get a victory. The team revolves around who the best player to get on the court is."

Tomic said Australia's Davis Cup prospects would continue to build as Matt Ebden moved into the world's top 50 and Marinko Matosevic, who is ranked inside the top 100, kept improving.

"Lleyton has won those slams but he has told me that Davis Cup, when it has come along for him, he has played almost two times better than he has ever played," Tomic said. "I want to play my best tennis in the Davis Cup. I have got those boys and the team pushing me. You are not going to win a Davis Cup on your own. You need a team of people and you need the captain there and you need the right choices of who is playing.

"I think we have got a great shot in September. I think we are going to win. We are going to beat them to get back into the World Group."

Having negotiated his first full season on the clay courts of Europe and improved his world ranking to inside the best 30 players, Tomic is entering the most intense phase of the tennis year. Next Monday he will return to Wimbledon, where his dramatic run through to last year's quarter-final against eventual winner Novak Djokovic announced his arrival as the most prodigious young talent. Then it is on to the Olympics, the US Open and Hamburg -- all within three months.

Tomic defaulted his first match of the grass-court season this week because of injury, but his camp said it was nothing more serious than a case of stomach cramps and he would take his place in next week's draw at Eastbourne to complete his Wimbledon preparation.

Tomic says he has changed his attitude since the loss to Switzerland in Sydney last September, after which Rafter criticised him for his poor work ethic. And Rafter has since changed his assessment of Tomic.

"I love having him there," he said of Rafter. "He is a great champion. He is someone I looked up to growing up. He had things to say and I agree with that. You take his advice to be better next time."
 
#12 ·
Bernard Tomic is "all systems go" for his last chance to showcase his grasscourt credentials before Wimbledon officials announce their seedings on Wednesday.

After enjoying a first-round bye, fourth-seeded Tomic will play either Italian Fabio Fognini or Spaniard Albert Ramos on Tuesday in the Wimbledon warm-up event at Eastbourne.

It will be Tomic's first outing since withdrawing midway through his tournament opener at Halle last week with stomach cramps when making his grasscourt season start.
Team Tomic said the exciting youngster was "all systems go and ready for Eastbourne".

"He's really looking forward to getting stuck into the grass season," Tomic's manager Fraser Wright said on Sunday.

"It really complements his style and allows him to play his game."
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/tennis/13972810/tomic-covets-wimbledon-promotion/
 
#13 ·
ON THE RISE... BERNARD TOMIC
DEUCE
by Simon Cambers | 18.06.2012

Twelve months ago, a tall, gangly 18 year old arrived at Wimbledon with a bundle of talent, a burgeoning reputation at home but a ranking of 158, still unproven on the biggest stage. Seven matches later and Australia was hailing a new hero.

Having come through the notoriously difficult qualifying competition, which is played at a different venue to The Championships, an undaunted Tomic set about ripping up the form book with wins over Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, Robin Soderling and Xavier Malisse. As the youngest quarter-finalist at Wimbledon since Boris Becker in 1986, Tomic then took a set off Novak Djokovic and pushed the eventual champion hard in the fourth set before finally running out of steam.

“He uses the pace fantastically,” Djokovic said at the time. “You can see he feels really comfortable on the court. Obviously what he lacks a little bit more is that experience. But it comes with the time. I'm sure if he continues this way, he's going to be a top player very soon.”

The World No. 1 is clearly a good judge of a player because 12 months on, Tomic will go into Wimbledon as an established player inside the world’s Top 30. A run to the last 16 at the Australian Open was more evidence that though still a teenager, he relishes the big occasion. He is already a big-time player.

When Pat Rafter retired in 2002, Australia was fortunate enough to have a ready-made replacement in Lleyton Hewitt, who was already World No. 1 at the time. With Hewitt nearing the end of his career, the search has been on for his successor and the interest in Tomic has been understandably intense.

For a 19 year old, Tomic does a good job of handling everything that gets thrown at him. Popular with the other players on the ATP World Tour, he recently put his orange sports car up for sale, another sign of his growing maturity. Having dominated the sport in the 1950s and 1960s, Australia are pinning their hopes on him, a pressure that would be difficult for anyone to cope with.

“It was a bit (tough) last year,” Tomic said, as he relaxed at the Monte Carlo Country Club, now his local tennis club after a recent move to make the principality his base. “I had a little bit of pressure the last year but not so much now. I’ve learnt to relax and just play tennis. I think when you play pressure tennis, and you think too much, you don’t play good. For me, when I relax I play my best tennis.”

His best tennis is pretty impressive. Just ask Roger Federer, who ended his run in Australia this year with a clinical performance but who saw enough to know that he is likely to be around a lot more in the years to come.

“He’s very good,” Federer said. “Obviously now it’s about keeping it up time and time again, also when he is playing on the smaller courts. But so far he’s handled expectations really well and he’s improved a lot since last year. There’s much more that’s going to come the Australian way, I would say.”

In an era when Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray have pushed the standards of baseline tennis to a new high, the arrival of Tomic has been a breath of fresh air. His technique probably wouldn’t make it into your average coaching manual but that is what sets him apart. He can hit every shot and then some you would not even think of, while he is almost single-handedly bringing the sliced forehand back into fashion. His hand-eye coordination is incredible and he loves nothing more than to change the pace, which unsettles even the best of opponents.

Born in Stuttgart and raised in Australia from the age of three-and-a-half, most of his guidance has been done by his father, John. But the most remarkable thing of all is that his style of play is innate. “When you’re young I think it’s all about how you develop, how you play the game,” he said. “You’ve got to have your own sense. No one taught me how to play. I kind of taught myself and became good at it.

“I am lucky, I have a quick sense and understand the court and understand tennis. I know how to pick up these weaknesses. If you look at the guys, 80 to 90 per cent of the Tour is exactly the same. That’s why they struggle against my game because I take a bit of the normal out of tennis.

“Every day I am learning to play new shots, new positions on court and how to hit. When I started at 7 or 8, until 15, I learnt a lot. But from 15 to now, in three, four years, I have learnt so much and imagine how I will be in another two years. I’m ready for this challenge. It’s going to be interesting. I have a good career ahead of me, if I stay healthy. You can’t play if you’re not healthy – we may as well go to the beach.”

The good thing about Tomic is that he knows he is far from the finished article and is willing to work at it. At 6ft 4in (1.93m) he believes he has stopped growing and for his height he moves well. But if he is going to make that next step up towards the very top, he appreciates he has to work as hard, if not harder than the rest.

“If you look at the top three, four in the world, their bodies are among the best,” he said. “They can endure the most out of the year and they are competing in every tournament they play, making the semis or more. To become that good a player you need to be the right athlete. I have to be disciplined. Talent is one thing but work beats talent.”

There is no doubt that Tomic has the game to excel on all surfaces, particularly as he matures and grows in strength and experience. It is on grass, though, where he really excels. His serve is good enough to win plenty of free points and none of the big names want to see him in their section of the draw. With the Olympics also to be played at Wimbledon this year, three weeks after The Championships, Tomic has two opportunities to really make a name for himself. It is a challenge he is looking forward to and one that you get the feeling he really believes he can accomplish.

“It’s my all-time, all career favourite, Wimbledon,” he said. “A lot of players don’t like playing me and the grass surface is perfect for that. I love the ball low, so it’s not a problem for me. Maybe I can do even better than last year.

“And the Olympics, it’s anyone’s dream to play the Olympics. It’s a huge tournament. Every player is there, Roger and Rafa, all of us. I have those two big tournaments to look forward to, Wimbledon and the Olympics and I’m ready for this year for Wimbledon to step up and have a good one, a better one.”
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/DEUCE-Tennis/DEUCE-Roland-Garros-Wimbledon-2012/Bernard-Tomic.aspx
 
#16 ·
Bad Boy Bernie's $1.5m nest on market



Bernard Tomic's Southport bachelor pad is on the market for $700,000 but is listed alongside the adjoining family home with a combined price tag of $1.5 million.

The three-bedroom townhouse, in Lenneberg St, is also available for rent.

Fully renovated, the bachelor pad includes a private indoor pool, entertaining deck, two bathrooms and tiled floors throughout.

Tomic's father John owns both townhouses.

Southport councillor and close family friend Dawn Crichlow said the Tomics were looking for a more secure Gold Coast base.

"Because the family travel overseas so much for Bernard's tennis they want a base with extra security, so they don't have to worry as much," she said.

"A large high rise unit would be the perfect solution and as far as I know that is the plan.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2012/06/20/425971_gold-coast-news.html
 
#17 ·
Scud says Tomic needs to ramp up serve
Darren Walton
June 20, 2012 - 12:59PM


Former finalist Mark Philippoussis fears Bernard Tomic lacks the serving firepower to be a realistic hope of breaking Australia's 10-year Wimbledon title drought.

Tomic last year became the youngest men's quarter-finalist at the All England Club since Boris Becker in 1985 and he'll be seeded at the grasscourt grand slam for the first time when it gets underway on Monday.

Philippoussis, runner-up to Roger Federer in 2003, has high hopes for the 19-year-old.

But Tomic has yet to conquer Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic - who have shared the past nine titles at Wimbledon - and Philippoussis says his teenage countryman will continue to struggle against the top dogs until he develops a more explosive serve.

"He's 6'4", 6'5" - he's got to have a bigger serve. He needs to have free points out there," Philippoussis told AAP.

"You can't wait for someone to miss because these guys just don't miss anymore. So you need to have weapons to hurt people and to get out of tough situations instead of grinding out of a point.

"He's got a good serve, but it's kind of a tricky serve. He paints the corners well, but he just needs to be a bigger server.

"There's no reason why he shouldn't be because he's a big guy. He just doesn't utilise his body and his size at all on his serve, from what I see."

Nicknamed Scud for his own missile-like delivery, Philippoussis said there was no doubting Tomic's immense talent.

"He's a little unconventional, which is good," he said.

"He's a great counter-puncher. He's very mature with the way he reads the game - he understands the game - and Wimbledon is one of his best surfaces for sure because of the way he plays.

"But he's still young and there's a couple of things that are very, very important for him to address for him to get to that top 10, top five, where he wants to go."

Philippoussis is keen to see how the world No.27 copes with having to defend a substantial number of rankings points from making the quarter-finals last year as an unseeded outsider.

"He's never done anything like that before," he said.

"It's different when no one expects you to do well coming into a grand slam and then you do well and it's also different when you've done well and then you know you've got to defend some points.

"So it will be interesting to see how he handles that - but he's very talented and has a great game. His groundstrokes are great."
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/br...ic-needs-to-ramp-up-serve-20120620-20ned.html
 
#18 ·
I actually dont think Bernie needs a massive serve to win Wimbledon even this year, i think he has the tennis smarts way above the level of what the poo ever had as well as some other big serves on the court today, obviously it would be handy if he had a bigger serve but i dont think he needs it, i reckon he can beat Nadal, Djokovic and Murray on the grass but i dont believe he can beat Roger just yet, i hope he gets a fairly easy draw and maybe Murray or Ferrer in his 16!
 
#19 ·
Tomic bombs out at Eastbourne
Darren Walton
June 21, 2012 - 4:29AM

Tomic looked to be cruising at a set up and having the Italian love-40 on serve in the second game of the second set and admitted he didn't know himself quite how he blew it.

"I said to myself after the match 'what exactly happened?'" Tomic said.

"I was that far ahead in the second and the third and then losing it, it's a tough feeling.

"I'm just happy that it happened here and not next week.

"It was disappointing. But he was the better player today."

His surprise defeat came in his return match after retiring with stomach cramps at 5-2 down against Tommy Haas in the opening round at Halle last week.

"I played a few bad points when I didn't need to and he played well and there's not really much more I can do," Tomic said.

"I was lucky that I was back healthy this week and playing well and having a chance."
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/tomic-bombs-out-at-eastbourne-20120621-20oxe.html
 
#21 ·
Tomic in Wimbledon fitness battle
Darren Walton
June 21, 2012 - 10:39AM

Bernard Tomic is shunning the London spotlight and bunkering down on the English south coast as he races the clock to be fully fit for Wimbledon starting on Monday.

Australia's leading men's contender confessed to being only 80 per cent physically ready for the biggest challenge of his career after suffering a startling third-set collapse against Italian claycourter Fabio Fognini on Wednesday.

A week after retiring with stomach cramps while trailing Tommy Haas 5-2 in Halle, Tomic lost his only other grasscourt match before Wimbledon, 4-6 6-3 7-5 to Fognini at Eastbourne.

After leading 5-2 in the deciding set, Tomic dropped the last five games to the world No.61 and then admitted he was fortunate to be back on court competing at all after a week from hell at his European base in Monte Carlo.

The 19-year-old had planned a week of R & R after the French Open following a draining six-week claycourt stretch that secured his career-high ranking world No.27 heading into the grasscourt major.

Instead he fell sick, a virus leaving his Wimbledon preparation in disarray.

"I was bad for three or four days prior to Halle," Tomic told AAP.

"I was resting in Monaco where I somehow got it, so I'm lucky it went away the last few days and I'm actually feeling right to go.

"I'm back to normal, which is good, but I wouldn't say that physically I'm 100 per cent. That's why I need these few days to get ready for Monday, Tuesday.

"But I think I'm back to 80 per cent, which is good. I've got these next three days which are very, very important for next week."

Tomic described his elevation to 20th seed at the All England Club - a reward for reaching the quarter-finals last year as a qualifier - as "huge".

But he admitted having to defend the bundle of rankings points accrued from his great 2011 run was pressure of a type he'd never experienced before.

"It's tough," he said.

"But last year I won seven matches. This year I need to win four to get to the same place.

"It's good to know they announced the seedings and I got the 20th seed, which is a huge thing.

"If you make it to the third round, you eliminate playing the top eight. The most important thing for me will be to win those first two matches on grass to get maybe into the third round.

"Then I'll open up like I did last year and be more relaxed."

Tomic is entitled to use his seeding to gain practise-court privileges at the All England Club, but will try to fly under the radar at Eastbourne until Saturday instead.

"I'm going to stay here, use the gym here and keep more of a low profile," he said.

"I've got to work hard, five or six hours the next four days, to peak where I want to be next Monday or Tuesday."
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/tomic-in-wimbledon-fitness-battle-20120621-20pgk.html
 
#22 ·
Aussie Wimbledon hopes nosedive
Darren Walton
June 21, 2012 - 1:54PM

Australia's Wimbledon stocks have plummeted days out from the biggest tournament of the year.

Bernard Tomic's disturbing collapse against lowly-ranked Italian claycourter Fabio Fognini at windy Eastbourne on Wednesday followed equally dire tournament lead-ups for former champion Lleyton Hewitt and Australia's top-ranked player Samantha Stosur.

All three will arrive at the All England Club alarmingly short of match practice - without a competitive grasscourt win between them since Tomic's Davis Cup victory over Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka at Royal Sydney last September.
Tomic's 4-6 6-3 7-5 inexplicable capitulation from 5-2 up in the third set against Fognini was the final indignity for Australia's three leading Wimbledon hopes.

"I asked myself after the match - 'what happened?' I was so far up in the third set," Tomic said.

The 19-year-old's only other grasscourt outing during the brief Wimbledon build-up was a retirement with stomach cramps when trailing Tommy Haas 5-2 in the first set last week at Halle.

He confessed to being physically at "80 per cent" five days out from Wimbledon and his only consolation came in the form of generous officials who promoted the 27th-ranked Tomic to 20th seed on Wednesday.

Tomic was the major beneficiary of the Wimbledon's grasscourt seeding formula which recognised his impressive run to the quarter-finals last year.

The teenager was the youngest player to reach the last eight at London's famous SW19 venue since Boris Becker in 1986, but now he's battling to be ready to defend a truckload of rankings points.

"I've got to work hard, five or six hours the next four days, to peak where I want to be next Monday or Tuesday," he said.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/aussie-wimbledon-hopes-nosedive-20120621-20pxn.html
 
#23 ·
It's love-all for Hewitt and Tomic
Linda Pearce, London
June 25, 2012

BELATEDLY but significantly, Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic have practised together at Wimbledon. A cool afternoon on lush court 19. A small but watchful audience. If only this had occurred three years ago, when Hewitt did the inviting and Tomic - infamously - the declining on the tournament's middle Sunday, Australian tennis would have been spared a ball-bucket full of grief.

How much more harmonious everything appears now, and how greatly circumstances have altered. Hewitt, the fading warrior, needed a wildcard into the main draw of the tournament he was the last Australian to win, back in 2002; Tomic, his still-young successor, seeded 20th at the place where he announced himself by reaching the quarter-finals as a qualifier last year. One on his way up; the other, well, not.

They co-anchor a Davis Cup team, so this is not the first time the once-estranged pair has shared a court together. They also have a common sponsor, and matching mini-Australian flags next to the names on their racquet bags, yet in most respects could not be more different.

Hewitt so intense, so driven. Still striving, despite his three children, many years of injuries and recently rebuilt bionic big toe. The languid Tomic, with his trick shots, his laid-back, boys-just-wanna-have-fun approach to tennis and life, his ''I like to take the normal out of tennis'' philosophy reiterated this week. Rivals, of sorts, for a while. But not really, not any more.

The pair practised easily for about 40 minutes before spending the last 20 in matchplay, Hewitt with veteran coach Tony Roche, close mate Brett Smith and regular training partner Peter Luczak in his corner, Tomic's father John patrolling the other baseline, chatting for a while to spectators Wally Masur and Pat Rafter, the former Davis Cup coach next to the captain.

The occasion was also noted by those wandering along the adjacent path to the practice courts at Aorangi. Indeed, on a quiet day at the All England Club, it was remarked upon by several international player agents, coaches and observers. Australian tennis watchers know that any festering disputes were disinfected some time ago, but this symbolism was too public to be ignored.

At one stage, Roche (owner of 16 grand slam titles) even had a light-hearted hit with Tomic senior (self-taught former taxi driver). It was fair to say that Roche showed the better technique, yet the idea of such an event happening at all would have been unthinkable during the height of the ill-will that followed what Team Hewitt regarded as an unforgivable show of disrespect back in 2009.

But that was then. Hewitt is a future Davis Cup captain, and Tomic is both the future of Australian men's tennis and its present. Both play their first-round matches tomorrow - Hewitt against fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomic opposed to Belgian wildcard David Goffin.

And the practice match? For the record, there appeared to be no service breaks. Fittingly, considering what has already been repaired.
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tenn...t-and-tomic-20120624-20wbx.html#ixzz1yigOf4vu
 
#24 · (Edited)
http://theage.com.au/sport/tennis/back-to-the-beginning-20120623-20vef.html

Back to the beginning
Linda Pearce
June 24, 2012

PAT Rafter and Bernard Tomic have collaborated at four Davis Cup ties, and yet the Australian captain chuckles when asked how he finds guiding his unorthodox young star. ''No, no, there's no guiding from me - I realise that!'' laughs Rafter. ''I just sit back and watch it all develop. Or 'unfold', is probably a better word.

''There are certain things throughout the match I'd like to try and help him with, but I find that the more I talk to him the worse it is, so I generally sit back and say nothing.'' So Tomic's not interested in what Rafter has to say at courtside? ''Yeah, [he is] in a way, but he goes off and does his own thing. And he's a smart kid. He knows what he's doing.''

And, typically, doing it his way, with extraordinary haste. Just 12 months ago, the Queenslander entered the Wimbledon main draw through qualifying, ranked 158th. When he departed after that audacious run to the last eight, it was with three top-50 scalps and after giving eventual champion Novak Djokovic an admirable quarter-final test.

But this year's will be a different kind of examination for the 19-year-old with the love of low-bouncing grass and fast-moving cars. Tomic returns as the world No. 27 and 20th seed, starting with should-win openers against David Goffin and either Jesse Levine or Karol Beck, before the prospect of 10th seed Mardy Fish in round three. But he also has a swag of points on the line and a reputation that precedes him. He is no longer the kid with nothing to lose.

''It's the first time that Bernard's gone into a major championship with something big to defend, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles that pressure; it'll be a sign of how long it might take before we really see him contend to actually win a grand slam,'' says nine-time Wimbledon doubles champion Todd Woodbridge, now Tennis Australia's head of professional tennis.

''I think it's probably another three years. Physically, he's matured enormously in the past 12 months, his movement has certainly improved, but I still think it's got that next level to go, because you see the best players in the world playing their best tennis around 24, 25, 26 right now, and I think he's still got to get to that part physically to be able to achieve that.

''Mentally, though, when he's switched on, and when he's engaged in it, he's as good as anybody.''
The surface is another big factor, for the degree to which it suits Tomic's unusual game. Indeed, of the four grand slams, the unique nature of grass and abbreviated length of its season make Wimbledon the least comfortable for most players; typically, the list of genuine contenders is short. Is Tomic one of them?
Rafter: ''If he plays like he plays at the Aussie Open, that type of good tennis, if he brings that to Wimbledon, where there's only a handful of guys who can win it, then, sure, he can be one of those.''
Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, agrees that ''it's always easier being the underdog, of course, with no pressure as long as you don't get overwhelmed by the big names''. But that has never been Tomic's issue, and nor is there a problem handling occasions that can stifle others. ''He's a kid who doesn't mind that sort of thing,'' says Rafter. ''And he's a good grasscourt player. He'll be tough to play, tough to beat.''

Yet what he may lack is a little of the surprise element that he brought to SW19 last year, when his talents and potential were acknowledged by his peers on the circuit, but fewer had seen his quirky style firsthand. The off-paced balls, the angles, the junk, the tricky slice - mixed with some hard, flat ball-striking.
Tomic has an innate understanding of the game, and prides himself on his ability to find and work on his opponent's weaknesses. ''You've got to have your own [court] sense,'' he said recently. ''No one taught me how to play. I kind of taught myself and became good at it.''

Adds Rafter: ''He's different. He's got great hands. He may not be the best athlete, but he makes up for it in other ways. He's as talented as most of the guys in the top 10, I would say. But he's a different talent.''
Woodbridge still sees deficiencies in Tomic's movement and consistency, while pointing out that his court coverage is less able to be exposed on grass than the slow clay the teenager endures rather than enjoys. ''He has the other guys off balance. The slice backhand's a beautiful shot on grass, he likes the ball low, he's a flat ball-hitter, so it comes more into his hitting zones,'' says the former Wimbledon semi-finalist. ''He puts the ball in places where the modern player doesn't like it, and he can do that better on grass than any other surface, which is the least favourite surface, probably, of three-quarters of the draw. So he likes it, and plays better. And they don't.''

Yet Woodbridge is also a little surprised that, with some exceptions, such as Croatian Marin Cilic, Tomic's ATP rivals still ''haven't quite worked him out'' as thoroughly as expected, given that this is his 13th major championship since his Australian Open debut in 2009. ''That's the impressive thing: that everyone on the tour knows him now, but he still worries so many guys. He still rattles them more than they can counteract him, and that's to do with his smarts, and how well he reads the game.''

Mark Woodforde does not believe the burden of the points defence will be significant, for Tomic is still so young that any setback would constitute only a temporary blip. But there is great interest in how the encore to last year's thrilling first act plays out. ''I think he might be a big-stage player and ready to duplicate a similar result,'' says Woodforde. ''His game sets up well for the grass … and 12 months down the track, Bernie is stronger and fitter and much more experienced. He's a danger.''

His preparation has been problematic, however. With a stomach virus prompting Tomic's retirement just seven games into his first-round match in Halle against Tommy Haas, and counting last week's first-up loss from a commanding position against Fabio Fognini at Eastbourne, he has passed the second round in just two of his 13 tournaments since excelling in Australia in January. But this is Wimbledon, where, in 2011, it all began. ''I come back one year after, and one year more mature and stronger; I think that going one further if I get the right draw and play the right tennis is possible for me,'' Tomic said last week. ''Some people are saying 'you could win' and I think if I get, maybe get to the quarters again, then from there I think I have the belief and I can maybe do it.''
 
#25 ·
Tomic Ready To Deliver on Big Stage
Darren Walton
June 25, 2012

Bernard Tomic is banking on his big-match temperament and funky style to get him through to the second week of Wimbledon for the second year running.

Tomic admits he's under pressure as he defends quarter-final points accrued during his exciting run to the last eight out of qualifying last year.

His form and health have been a major concern, but the 19-year-old - who also reached the last 16 at the Australian Open before running into Roger Federer - says returning to the All England Club will bring out his best.

"I'm really excited. Grass is always for me my favourite surface," Tomic told AAP ahead of his first-round clash on Tuesday with promising young Belgian David Goffin.
"I feel like I can do like I did last year and being sick last week when Tommy (Haas) won the tournament is a good sign too."

The teenager was referring to Haas's victory over Federer in the Halle final just a few days after the German veteran defeated an ailing Tomic in the opening round.

Tomic was trailing 5-2 in the opening set before packing it in as he battled a sapping virus.
Australia's 20th seed believes his unusual game is perfectly suited to grass.
"You have to play differently on it," he said.

"Grass is hard to get the ball up high - it's always low and that's where I prefer it and these guys don't prefer it on the tour these days.

"Eighty, 90 per cent of the tour is guys that love to play on the clay. They play on hard court as well and they get to the grass courts and they choke up.

"That's why they struggle against my game because I take a bit of the normal out of tennis."
It was actually Tomic who struggled in his last grasscourt outing before Wimbledon.
But he put his capitulation from 5-2 up in the third set against Italian Fabio Fognini at Eastbourne last week down to being only 80 per cent fit and also a concentration lapse, which he needed to address.

"Yeah, it happens a lot," Tomic said.

"You look at the top players, they have to play against lower-ranked players because they're at the top.
"But you can only get back and better. You're not going to get to No.1 at the age of 19 nowadays."
http://brisbanetimes.com.au/breakin...y-to-deliver-on-big-stage-20120625-20xph.html
 
#26 ·
D. GOFFIN/B. Tomic

3‑6, 6‑3, 6‑4, 6‑4

Q. How disappointing is that?

BERNARD TOMIC: It's hard. You know, to see what you did last year and to lose first round is difficult. But, you know, there's a reason why I lost, I have to say. You know, I think I lost because he played much better and I wasn't playing the right tennis. No excuse.

I think the last few weeks have been a little bit tough on me. I have gone through a match where I should have won and been sick for a week. But, you know, look, I take that as a learning curve. You're not going to improve unless you learn, I think.

That's why it's important for me at a young age, for any player that's young, is to, I think, lose. You're only going to come back stronger if you keep losing.

I can't say anything wrong. He played well today from the second set onwards.

Q. You're saying no excuses, but physically how were you? You seemed to clutch your back a few times and looked a little bit out of sorts.

BERNARD TOMIC: I thought I was going to be ready. Like last week I was 70, 80%. But still it's tough to get through that three, four days, you know. I tried as much as I could, but there was a period where it was raining for a day and a half.

You know, I was feeling good in that first set. It's just that concentration level that I dropped, and, you know, allowed a player probably of his quality to get back into the match. Any player that's in the top 100 is going to take that and come back into the match.

Q. What was he doing that you couldn't seem to stay focused on?

BERNARD TOMIC: It wasn't probably what he was doing, it was what was going on with me throughout my head.

You know, I wasn't thinking straight at that time. I thought, you know, being one set to love up that everything was going to go away. But, you know, people want to get back into the match, and I allowed him to get back.

After I played too defensive and he was relaxed and just going for his shots.

Q. Last year you were the golden boy coming through and getting through the quallies and into the quarters and getting a set off Djokovic; now this year, you know, he qualified as a lucky loser at Roland Garros and played all the way to the round of 16 and got a set off Federer. Does it feel like you guys have exchanged places? Turned the table?

BERNARD TOMIC: Well, look, he's 21; I'm 18, 19. I've gotten into the top 30. It's different. He has time and he's going to obviously be a top‑30 player. He has great groundstrokes.

But I think what I've lacked the last few weeks is, you know, the consistency, and it's tough to get. Hopefully the Olympics will be good to me. It's played here on grass. I've got tournaments I'm playing in Stuttgart and Hamburg, so I think I've got time to catch up to where I was here.

Q. The racquet obviously took a pounding. Was that today the frustration or was it three weeks' worth of frustration building up?

BERNARD TOMIC: I'm not normally like that, but it's a good I guess sign of relief when you smash a racquet. I don't normally do it. It's not like I will keep continuing to do it.

I feel like, you know, I couldn't control myself because I was playing pretty tight and defensive, and, you know, he was playing relaxed. That's what happens sometimes.
You look at that last year, what I did was I was relaxed. It was the opposite side. What can you do?

Q. You didn't seem too thrilled that three times umpiring errors turned winners into replays.

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, well, I mean, there were a few close calls, and just that's tennis.

Q. Is that something you learn to deal with, the frustration, you have to channel it in rather than take it out on the racquet?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I mean, I don't usually do that, but, I mean, like it's a mental skill. It's a skill you need to have. You look at the guys in the top 3. Mentally they're the most strong. If you look at the athletes that have dominated the world, they're all strong.

Mentally growing up I've been great, but obviously you're going to get times when you're young things won't go your way. But just think one day I will find this balance, within the next six months, year. I'm still young, but I've got to find it eventually.

Q. The balance you talk about, how does the coaching situation feed into that?

BERNARD TOMIC: The coaching situation, yeah, I mean, look, I can't complain. I think it's been more me the last eight weeks ‑ I think even on clay ‑ where I afforded a lot of losses.

You know, if I look back to going on the clay court season, I was up I think in four matches with four tournaments, I was up 5‑2, 5‑3 in the third just like what I was doing last week. It's just weird.

My concentration has been up and down, dropping. It's not no one's fault, but I've got to get back on that track where I was playing the start of the year.

Q. This is the first big tournament where you've had a lot to defend. Did you feel that was a burden, and did it play any role in your performances?

BERNARD TOMIC: No. To be honest, it didn't feel like that. It just felt my tennis wasn't where I wanted it to be to play. I wasn't scared about the points to defend. I was just worried. I was upset with my game today, the way I was playing. I couldn't execute my shots.

That's different when you go through last year being relaxed and being allowed to play. This year I go with the feeling of you're having to defend some points, but also you're not also feeling 100%. You're not playing the way you should be. You know, there is a lot of things that have been going on.

I'm going to take a few days off. I've got to get back on track. I know it will happen sooner or later, but you can't do that without hard work. To be honest, I haven't been really working hard the last two months. Just been up and down.

Q. Your whole career has been up and up and up. Now that you have a lull here, how are your confidence levels?

BERNARD TOMIC: Well, what are you trying to say?

Q. No, I'm just saying is this a setback for you or you take it as sort of a blip?

BERNARD TOMIC: Well, look, if you say I'm going down with one tournament then I don't know what the hell you're talking about. You can look at it that way, but I think I've got eight months where I have points to defend, so we'll go back to that question in six months.

Q. You mentioned not working hard enough. Why is that the case?

BERNARD TOMIC: Good point. I think, look, to have talent is one thing. To have talent, it's huge for any sport.

I think the last few months I have been casually sort of working into a not sort of ‑‑ sort of using my hard work to get me where I have been getting the last year.

But I have sort of lacked off a little bit and look what it's costing me. Last eight, nine weeks I'm losing a lot of first, second rounds. So it's not my quality of tennis. My quality of tennis should be getting to a lot of semifinals, finals at tournaments or even winning where I had chances last eight weeks, but lack of concentration, not working hard, it costs you.

Q. Is that a lack of motivation in some way then? Can't sort of bring yourself to practice as hard as you know you need to?

BERNARD TOMIC: It's just strange. I mean, like on the way up I have been growing up playing and everything's got easy. I've gotten to where I have won very easily. It's amazing. Now you let the foot off the pedal and it's costing you. It's something I'll learn.

It's a good thing what's actually happened here. I'll wake up and get back to the way I was playing the next ‑‑ you know, for once where I don't have to ‑‑ I can relax and play good tennis and get back to that training mode to get me to the top 15, 20 at the end of the year even.

Q. Such a talented ball‑striker. Does that make it more difficult to sort of grind when you have to grind or...

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah. Well, I think being a good ball‑striker, I've got good hands, but that's where I don't take my legs into play the last few months. I haven't been, you know ‑‑ hands is one thing, but the effort that you put in.

Like the guys in the top 3, it's different. That's why they're there. They've got hands; they've got the mental skills; they've got the legs.

Q. So were you frustrated with your game even coming into this Wimbledon tournament? You kind of felt frustrated even before you went out on court?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah. Well, look, I wasn't expecting much. Maybe winning a round or two, because the way I was going through nine weeks of first, second rounds, you know, you sort of wake up and say, Hello. Shit, you're at Wimbledon. Sorry.

But in a way it's like, you know, you look at it. You've got through eight, nine weeks and you're heading into on of the biggest tournaments of the world where you've done unbelievable last year.

Then, you know, I've got to get back into the training world. At least I will have maybe the ten days off where I can train and get ready for the two clay‑court tournaments, and then the Olympics will be a good task for me.

We'll see what happens. Like I said, I've got to train, not use my hands.

Q. Can you take any motivation out of the fact you can come back here in a couple weeks during the Olympics and do what you wanted to do here and what you like to do on grass?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah.

Q. Another chance?

BERNARD TOMIC: I'm really gifted and lucky for that opportunity to have the Olympics coming up, which is, my point of view, bigger for ‑‑ bigger than Wimbledon for me, the Olympics. For any athlete I think it's something that I want to do well in, and I'm thankful it's on grass.

But like I said, I'm not going to do well. I can just say I will, but if I'm not going to work out the next two, three weeks...

You know, it's not what you do in the next two, three weeks. It's what you do every week. To be honest, the effort that's been costing me this tournament and the past two months has been probably my lack of effort, the way I have been training on court, off court, matches, and mentally.

So I've got to get back on that roll.

Q. Were you thinking when you got back here it would all fall into place?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, in one way. That's a good question. I mean, but in one way that's what I expected sort of. But it's not going to come back if you haven't put the hard work in. It's good. I like what I've lost. I think it's good for me.

Q. Is the problem you think the way you've been training or sometimes you've just not trained? You find other things to do?

BERNARD TOMIC: A bit of both. (Smiling.)

It's the way you train. I know my tennis, when I'm playing well, is not ‑‑ many people in the top 10, you know, top 15 struggle with my game. I can beat anyone, even at the age of 18, 19.

But it can cost you, you know. You can be talented and head down, but I'm not going to let that happen to me.

Q. In terms of outside influences, Davis Cup coaching scenarios, you respond a certain way in your private situation. What do you find is best for you?

BERNARD TOMIC: Say that again.

Q. Comparing Davis Cup and preparing for ties compared to this, what's better for you: having someone like Pat Rafter around? Do you respond to that kind of thing?

BERNARD TOMIC: Look, with me, like, you know, I can work with Pat ‑‑ like the Davis Cup is great. I love working on the team, and I can't wait for when Davis Cup starts. I love being in that role of being in the team. To have a shot at even qualifying this year if I do so it will be huge.

I think regardless of who's working with me, it's my sort of tennis ‑‑ my game is just ‑‑ it relies on me. People can say they can help you with a lot of tips. Even my dad who has been with me for 11 years has done a great job.

You know, that can take the place, but saying people can help, it's not really ‑‑ for my tennis, it's all about me. I've got to find that in me. People give you great tips along the way and can help you and stuff, which I'm ready for any help, but you're not going to become Federer, Rafa, or Novak if you don't do it yourself. That's for sure.

Q. Has your dad, your coach, been frustrated or annoyed at you for what you have admitted which is sort of a lack of application of training?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah. I think there's also a few other things that are involved also last few eight weeks which I can't talk about.

But it's a learning curve, and I'm lucky I'm getting hit with these things at this age now. In one way it's good for ‑‑ I think it's great. It's better that I won ‑‑ that I lost so I can wake up and find my tennis where it can be and where it can take me to the next few years.

Q. Do you remember the last time you played him four years ago?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I lost 0 and 1 in juniors. You know, I think he played much better than I did second, third set. But see what's costing me today. Should have been realistically straight sets to me, 6‑3 and I was playing well.

But having dropped my confidence and my mental, I was ‑‑ you know, players just can't wait to come back. When I'm down a set, all I want to do is come back and beat the guy. That's where I lacked off a bit today. He took his chance, and credit to him. He played very good tennis.
 
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