Tomic has Challenger date for comeback

EXCLUSIVE

BERNARD Tomic has entered two Challenger tournaments in Europe as his first steps back to tennis after his controversial television reality show appearance.

Tomic last week vowed to recommit himself to training to climb out of his career hole, after a rankings drop to No.168, despite encouragement from many experienced Australian tennis observers that he take a long break.

Tomic has targeted a Challenger-level tournament in Lille, France, from March 19.

After that is a second Challenger in Alicante, Spain, from April 2 before entries in four more-prestigious ATP tournaments, not all of which he would play qualifying at as they are in consecutive weeks.

The Challenger entries are significant because the 25year-old, who has referred interviewers to his “millions’’ when asked about his tennis downturn, has entered two of the less lucrative events at Challenger level in Europe at that time of year.

The 32 players in the fields at both Lille and Alicante will share in 40,000 euros ($67,500) at each tournament.

The Davis Cup team stayaway has ignored advice from many in the Australian tennis community that he take up to 12 months away from the sport to decide if he wants to be on the tennis circuit.

Tomic played one Challenger in Europe last October in a bid to improve his ranking, which needs to be top-100 before he can be a direct entry to grand slams or play qualifying for second-tier ATP 1000 events.

The Gold Coaster has also entered four ATP tournaments in four weeks in April, including an ATP 1000 event at Monte Carlo.