A TRUE AUSSIE BATTLER
GOLD Coast Tennis star Bernard Tomic faces the prospect of having to fight through qualifiers for the Australian Open after first-round fail at Flushing Meadows
BERNARD Tomic is vowing to fight to save his career as he faces the humiliating prospect of having to qualify for the Australian Open after a disastrous first-round US Open loss in New York yesterday.
In his first match since being fined a Wimbledon-record $US15,000 for saying he was “a little bored” during his first-round defeat at the All England Club, Tomic succumbed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to 19th seed Gilles Muller.
Tomic is projected to slump to world No.142, leaving the former grand slam quarter-finalist and No.17 at a career crossroad. Unless the Gold Coast-raised talent improves his ranking to about 105 by the end of the season, he will miss direct entry to his home major.
It is believed Tennis Australia could be reluctant to extend a wildcard to Tomic after he opted out of last year’s Rio Olympics and no longer represents Australia in Davis Cup play.
Tomic said he wouldn’t ask for a wildcard and remained confident of boosting his ranking sufficiently with strong results during the Asian swing.
But after also revealing in a recent TV interview he’d spent much of his career not giving 100 per cent in matches, Tomic is unlikely to gain many wildcards to big events and will need to play lowlevel Challenger events in a bid to boost his ranking.
“It’s no sort of threat for me – I’ve been in this position before and I managed to turn it around quickly,” he said, recalling how he battled back from 124 after double hip surgery in 2014.
“It’s about being healthy the next six months to a year.”
After also complaining of being burnt out during his extraordinary press conference at Wimbledon, Tomic said his motivation – if not full health and fitness – had returned following a six-week break from tennis.
Tomic, though, maintained he still felt “trapped” in tennis and would likely need to play on into his 30s – unless “I can win a major or two, maybe I can retire early”.
“I mean, it’s tough. Everyone has their own work, their own job, and it’s not like I can go and start real estate or something, restaurants – I’ve got no idea about that,” he admitted.
“Yes, I can afford to do those things, but I’ve got no idea. My job’s only to play tennis and it’s all I know.
“I’m not going to finish a doctor’s degree. I’m not the smartest person in the world.”
Tennis great John Newcombe feared at Wimbledon the troubled star was close to suffering a breakdown. Tomic said he was back in a good head space, but accepted he needed to work hard.