TOMIC: IT’S MY FAULT YOU DON’T LIKE ME
Candid Tomic determined to rebuild career and reputation
IN his most candid interview yet, polarising Gold Coast tennis player Bernard Tomic admits he is largely at fault for the public’s poor perception of him, but has high hopes he can resurrect his flagging career and reputation.
“I do lash out and I do say things I regret. I’ve got to take more time to think about what I say. It’s a lesson I’ve learnt ... hopefully I can grow as a person in the next decade.”
POLARISING tennis star Bernard Tomic admits he’s to blame for a poor public perception but aims to resurrect his flagging career and reputation.
In his most candid interview yet, the 25-year-old yesterday spoke about how “wasting” most of 2017 was a “wake up” call and hopes he’ll evolve personally to change his persona.
“It is a bit my fault really and my responsibility,” the Gold Coaster said in a live onair interview with News Corp journalist Jonathon Moran.
“I do lash out and I do say things I regret. I’ve got to take more time to think about what I say. It’s a lesson I’ve learnt ... hopefully I can grow as a person in the next decade,” he said.
The trouble-prone star revealed plenty of regret.
Tomic, whose transgressions include holding his racquet backwards when down match point and telling media after last month’s Australian Open qualifying loss all he did was “count my millions”, told Moran: “I’m not going to lie, I have said and done a bunch of silly and stupid stuff.
“Some of the stuff I regret, others I look back and have a bit of a laugh and think it was a bit ridiculous and funny.
“You know, 99 per cent of the time I’m doing the right thing, I’m really nice and humble but that one per cent of the time the media catch me at the wrong time. But it’s tough when you have the media chasing you half the time.”
Asked about his polarising nature, he said: “I’m very unique, I’m very different to myself, I even trick myself sometimes, I say one thing and do the other. Even on the tennis court I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.
“I feel like I confuse a lot of people and I confuse myself sometimes,” Tomic said.
On his experience in the South African jungle when he recently became the first person to ever quit I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! just days into it, Tomic said he realised he had to leave and get back on the tennis court.
“I had only started playing and doing the right things on the tennis court the last two months. “The whole last year was a waste for me, I didn’t play a lot of tennis. (But) I was getting back into it and played some good matches at the Australian Open.
“That’s why I doubted myself on the show. It was the wrong thing for me to do. But getting back on the court right after was an amazing thing to do and something I needed to do and I’m feeling really good.”
Tomic, training on the Gold Coast since he quit the jungle, leaves in coming days for lower level Challenger Tour tennis tournaments in Europe aiming to get match play and boost his slumping ranking.
Once 17 in the world and with $7 million in prizemoney to his name, he’s now 168.
He is scheduled to play lower tier events in Morocco and Istanbul before he hopes to get a qualifying spot in the lucrative Monte Carlo Open, and French Open, the next Grand Slam.
“I was in a similar position when I was 150 in the world three years back. I had surgery and then finished in the top 17. Now it’s a little different and I’m ready to challenge myself. Hopefully in the next year I can be well inside the top 30 but I’m going to have to work hard.”