‘You’re wasting your time’: Tomic urged to get serious
ONE of the key men behind Bernard Tomic’s outstanding junior career has urged him to commit fully to his comeback bid or quit tennis altogether.
Geoff Masters worked with Tomic as the Queensland Academy of Sport head coach and travelled with him at stages throughout his fledgling days as a professional.
Tomic reached a Wimbledon quarter-final in 2011 as an 18year-old and seemed primed for a stellar career, but he’s instead become better known for a series of controversies.
Even then, he spent large parts of 2015 and 2016 inside the world’s top 20, only for it to all unravel to the point he’s now the highest-profile player ranked in the 200s.
Tomic’s relationship with Lleyton Hewitt and Tennis Australia
is in tatters, much like his reputation with the public. With all of that going on, the 28-yearold still managed to qualify for the Australian Open in Doha, with all three of his matches going the distance.
Tomic has revealed he has plans to play until he’s 35, but Masters continues to see concerning signs, including watching his former pupil in action at UTR Pro Series level in Brisbane last year.
“Bernard’s success or otherwise is totally on Bernard,” Masters said.
“He’s always had the hands and always had the skill, but it’s a matter of how badly he wants to play. There’s no getting away from the fact in more recent years he hasn’t displayed that joy of the sport or desire to play, and the result of that’s been some coverage in places like Wimbledon that hasn’t been pleasant for him.
“If he wants to play, there’s no reason he can’t get back. But if he doesn’t really want to, then go do something else, because you’re deluding yourself and wasting your time.”
Tomic was again in the headlines for withdrawing from a lead-up Australian Open event with a knee injury, only hours after posting an Instagram video of him playing basketball. He is set to play Japan’s world No.104 Yuichi Sugita on Monday.