A career Bern out Is Tomic capable of fulfilling his potential or is this as good as it gets?
THE ISSUE ryan.keen@news.com.au crime of playing music too loud in his hotel, he spent a night in the lockup. He’d hit rock bottom, critics crowed. The next week he won his third ATP title. He loves proving naysayers wrong. There are plenty right now. Can’t win a match, they say. In a careerkilling form slump, they say. Tomic disagrees. While admitting he sucks on clay, with three wins from eight matches on the dirt, he reckons he’s having the best clay swing of his career. Ahead of Wimbledon, everyone says his lack of a seeding means he’s in danger of drawing a big gun and being bundled out early. The flipside is not one of the top seeds wants to play Tomic first round. It’s a surface his lanky frame, throwback flat groundies, deft slices and underrated serve thrive on. You don’t need to be that fit to win on grass. rhys.oneill@news.com.au than aces, slowly warmed his way into our hearts because he gave his all. Made the most of his talents, as it were. Tomic, meanwhile, has not got close to becoming the blue-chip player we once dreamt he’d be. Many would argue it’s because he has, for the most part, refused to permanently jettison that hefty chip lying prone on his shoulder. That is the very reason many say, “Give me a toiler like John Millman any day over a Tomic’’. Tomic is no longer the “rising Aussie star’’. He’s 24, the age by which Roger Federer had won six majors. Yes, the comparison is unfair but remember that this is the kid we once tagged as “The Next Fed”. In truth, I’ve got about as much hope of a slam win as that ever happening for Bernie.