Masters tells Tomic: Take a holiday
RESPECTED tennis commentator Geoff Masters believes the best thing Bernard Tomic can do for himself is take a long, clean break from the game.
Masters, based on the Gold Coast but in Melbourne for Channel Seven’s Australian Open coverage, said Tomic’s latest outburst to reporters that all he does is “count my millions” was something that “reads terrible, looks awful”.
“But if you look at it underneath, it’s a problem, he’s got some issues, it’s a bit of a cry for help and I hope he manages to find some people who can help him,” Masters told the Bulletin yesterday.
“To be honest with you I have serious empathy and concern for Bernard and I think the comments he’s making are more about his low self-esteem.”
Masters, who had a coaching role with Tomic earlier in his career, added: “He’s had a, shall we say, different upbringing where it was put to him that he would probably win half a dozen Grand Slam tournaments and right now I suspect he’s thinking that’s a bit disappointing and so the self-esteem is a bit low.”
His assessment came after Tomic, 25, lashed out verbally at journalists after losing his third and final round qualifying match to world 218ranked Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
Soon after leaving the court, a frustrated Tomic sarcastically told a media scrum who asked where to from here for his career: “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.”
Tomic, who has earned more than $7 million in prizemoney alone not counting appearance fees and endorsements down the years, now faces his ranking in the 140s tumbling even further from a one-time career high of 17.
Masters said during his run to the third round of qualifying it looked like Tomic was hitting the ball pretty well but physically didn’t have the legs to match it with top pros.
“If you are not fit enough it’s just not going to work. To do that sort of work you need to have the passion and commitment and that is the big question obviously at the moment.
“At the end of the day the buck stops with Bernard, it’s the old adage ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me’.
“If he’s not very committed at the moment, that’s ok, go take some time off, take three, four, five months off and do whatever you want to do and then decide,” Masters said.
“A break would do him a power of good, help him clear for Bernard his mind and make him realise he is a long time retired and whatever money he has earned now it will go very quickly if you are living a life you are used to but nothing is coming in.”
After a lacklustre first round Wimbledon loss last year, Tomic admitted in his post-match conference to being “bored” on the court and whether he lost first round or went deep at Grand Slams made no difference to him.