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Tomic’s Indian summer nets $25k title
Gold Coast tennis pro Bernard Tomic has quietly won a lowlevel tour title in India during the Australian Open where he was once a second week regular.
Tomic, who three times made it to the fourth round at his home Grand Slam in Melbourne, has defeated the heat in Chennai this past week to win a $25,000 Futures title.
The Futures level is the lowest of the professional tour. For his five match wins in the choking heat Tomic won a purse of $5400, a far cry from his heyday as a Major tournament main draw guarantee – players who lost in the Australian Open first round this month pocketed $120,000.
The former world number 17 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist told Sportstar website during the Indian tournament he was “happy to be alive and to be playing tennis”.
After a first-round Chennai win against world number 793 Grigoriy Lomakin who quit at 3-6 2-5 down, Tomic told Sportstar: “I like to be quicker but that’s tough as I am getting older. But that is okay. I cannot complain. I’m focusing on being injury free.
“We were both struggling a little bit. It is my first match in India,” Tomic told the site.
“The air quality is different here. I am getting used to the conditions, the more matches I play, the more I will get used to the heat,” he said, adding he was preparing to play higherlevel Challenger events coming up in India.
Tomic’s Chennai tune up included four more match wins to claim the title – his highestranked opponent was Ukrainian Eric Vanshelboim, ranked 323.
Tomic, aged 31, has fought his way up to 290 by grinding on the tour’s lower levels for 12 months after dropping to near the 900 mark at one stage.
“Everyone has a different journey,” Tomic told Sportstar. “You can’t control destiny. You learn to respect life and the little things.
“If I did everything right I could have won a Grand Slam but didn’t. But there are 20 other people who can say the same thing about them.
“Maybe I could have (been) top 10, top eight, but it’s okay. There are other things to look at. I am okay now. I will try to get to the top 100, top 50, one more time.
“I am happy to be alive and to be playing tennis.”
Two years ago, in an exclusive comeback interview, Tomic told the Gold Coast Bulletin he had been close to quitting the sport for good in 2020 but surprised himself by winning three Australian Open qualifying rounds in 2021 and it help him rediscover his “fire”.
“I’ve got one more chance at this. I’ll try and do it for myself,” he said at the time.