Tomic’s talent ‘ in world top five’
THANASI Kokkinakis hopes Bernard Tomic can find a solution to a mid- career crisis, declaring the Queenslander too talented not to be a high achiever.
Tomic is under ferocious scrutiny after a timid Wimbledon surrender and the dubious use of a medical time- out to stall opponent Mischa Zverev.
Told Tomic admitted being bored and burnt out at the cradle of tennis, Kokkinakis said: “It’s crazy, he’s 24 but he has been around so long.
“He was so good young. I think personally he’s like a top- five talent in the world.
“It’s tough for him. There is a lot of pressure on him obviously. He came up being so good.
“Hopefully he can get it together because he’s a really good player, especially when he’s switched on. He’s so skilful.”
Grand slam supervisors will consider a transcript of Tomic’s extraordinary post- match interview, where he revealed he wasn’t injured.
Asked why he called for the trainer, Tomic said: “I just thought I’d try to break a bit of momentum, to use that as my strategy, because I was just playing very bad and feeling bad.
“I tried to use something different maybe, slow him down a bit on the serve.”
Tomic pocketed $ 64,000 in 84 minutes, earning just over $ 900 for each of the 71 points he won in a straight- sets loss to Zverev.
In a rambling dissertation, the Queenslander revealed he had no respect for the sport and was “mentally not there.”
Zverev, who beat Andy Murray at the Australian Open, was stunned by Tomic’s listless show- ing. “Well, I thought it was going to be a complicated match because I played him a couple days ago in Eastbourne,” the German said.
“It’s not always easy, because it seems like, maybe let’s say he’s the opposite of Rafa on the court with the intensity level.”
In a candid and brutal self- appraisal, Tomic pondered whether he would ever muster the motivation to fulfil his talent.
But he stopped short of saying he could ever change his ways.
“This is my eighth Wimbledon or ninth, I think. I’m still 24, and it’s tough to find motivation,” he said.
“To me, this is one of the biggest tournaments in the world that I have done really well in my career, and, yeah, I just couldn’t find anything.
“It’s happened to me a lot. It was definitely a mental issue out there. I don’t know why but, I felt a little bit bored out there.”
A week after revealing he was suffering burnout, Tomic said there had been many matches in his career where he’d mentally checked out.