Grand slam quarterfinals, wild parties, arrests, physical fights, reality television, tanking and now X-rated videos.
Quite the ‘tennis career’ for Australia’s very own Bernard Tomic.
Now 28 years old, Tomic made his long-awaited return to court last week in the UTR Pro Series in Brisbane. Tomic managed a 6-3 6-0 victory over Maverick Banes, but later fellin his next match to world number 550, Thomas Fancutt. It was his first tennis event since March where he competed in the Monterrey Challenger event – in which he later returned from Mexico and was self-isolating in Miami due to having ‘all the symptoms’ of COVID-19.
It’s no secret that Tomic has never loved tennis – considering he has publicly announced his lack of desire to play, multiple times. But Tomic has always had talent, that’s undeniable. Enough talent to propel him to Wimbledon’s quarterfinals and World No. 17.
It seems that aptitude has now washed up.
Now 28 years-old, with very little drive and determination, it is hard seeing Tomic ever reaching the heights he once achieved only a mere few years ago.
Since reaching World No. 17 in 2016, there has been few peaks and many troughs in Tomic’s downward spiral to sitting outside the top 200.
His dedication to the game of tennis has been very limited – most obvious when he appeared on ‘I am a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.’
The tennis star got out of there pretty quickly – maybe it isn’t just tennis where Tomic has commitment issues.
Ultimately, Tomic must work hard if he wants to climb back up the rankings, and if history shows us anything, he may not have it in him. Numerous allegations of tanking and disinterest on the court has made it evident that perseverance is not one of Tomic’s strong suits.
Although he has done it before.
Two years ago, he won the Chendgu Open. After being ranked 243 in the May of 2018, he won the 250-event in the September of the same year. In the tournament he made it through qualifying, saved four match points and then ultimately prevailed to win the title.
But, with age not on Tomic’s side, nor the fact he has played very limited tennis over the past eight months, Tomic’s road back to the top 100 seems to a much more onerous and troublesome one than previously before.
It is also highly doubtful Tennis Australia would hand Tomic any wildcards for future tournaments in Australia and around the world due to the grim relationship between the two parties. Furthermore, Tomic’s ranking is nowhere near high enough (currently World No. 224) to qualify for any ATP main draw events.
If Tomic was wanting to make it back into the top 100 he would have to grit and grind in challenger events, as well as play in the qualifying for ATP tournaments in order to just to make the main draw.
Furthering his lack of dedication, it seems Tomic has other priority’s in his life. With a debut on X-Rated website ‘Only Fans’, it seems the tennis player may be looking towards other means of income due to the lack of prize money over the past year.
No one has ever known what is actually going on in Tomic’s head, but it is evident tennis isn’t at the forefront.
And that’s alright – if he doesn’t want to succeed.
Tomic has reached one’s maximum capabilities based solely on raw talent.
No commitment and diligence generally equate to a lack of success, something Tomic probably won’t find in the back end of his career if he continues this way.
For now, Tomic may be confined to ‘counting [his] millions’ or a soon lack of.