Alexandr Dolgopolov recently talked about his win over Bernard Tomic at the Shanghai Masters and how weird it was to play in front of so few people.
“For sure it’s a bit weird,” he said. ”It’s the third round of a Masters Series. You don’t feel that atmosphere a bit, but still you need to make yourself play. It was pretty tough because the court is a bit faster, bounces are different. So it was really tough to stay out there and be motivated and try to play your best tennis.”
Its sad to see that all event apart from Grand Slams are getting such few big crowds. The sport needs to change a great deal and make it a lot more appealing to the general audience to attend.
Mardy Fish is still going strong towards the end of 2011. Mardy has defeated Bernard Tomic to make the semifinals of the Japan Open. Im really surprised how good Fish has been playing in the second half of 2011. Hopefully he can improve over the summer and be ready for even better results at the Australian Open.
It will be very interesting to see how the Double progresses. If Australia can take the doubles, then I can see the tie coming down to the Lleyton Hewitt vs Stanislas Wawrinka match.
Lots of people in Australia were talking about Bernard Tomic and his possible third round match with Roger Federer. However, Bernard has been knocked out of the US Open 2011 in big fashion! Tomic got hammered today by Marin Cilic 6-1 6-0 6-2.
Marin Cilic is a great player with a big serve and forehand. Tomic really struggled with Cilic’s serve and it didnt help that he made 34 unforced errors in the match compared to 16 of his opponent. However, most importantly Bernard only won 22% of his second serve points and thats just terrible.
For some reason Australia has chosen to play on grass for their upcoming Davis Cup tie with Switzerland in September. This choice seems foolish considering Roger Federer is pretty much unbeatable on grass!
I can only think this is because they are going to play Tomic and Guccione who both have very large serves and their best surface is grass. However, they need to basically win 2 singles and the doubles, because they will lose 2 singles rubbers to Roger Federer.
There has been no official comment from Tennis Australia on why they select grass over the other surfaces.
The Australia-Switzerland winner will advance to the topflight World Group next year.
It is August the 8th and guess what day it is? It’s Roger Federer’s birthday! Yes, the 16 time Grand Slam champion has passed the threshold of becoming 30 years old and he had this to say about his milestone: “Birthdays happen. They’re part of life. I’m happy I’m getting older. I’d rather be 30 than 20, to be honest.”
That seems pretty logical since you are as young as you feel and at 20, he didn’t have as much success as when he reached 30.
Many are questioning whether he will win another Grand Slam and he very well might since there were plenty of Grand Slam champions in the past who had won Grand Slams after reaching 30. For example, Andre Agassi won the Australian Open when he was 32 and then even Francesca Schiavone won her first Grand Slam when she was 30, so there are plenty of chances for him to claim his victory on the big stage in the coming years.
He will be competing at the Rogers Cup Masters Tournament in Montreal this week, and he is in the same half as world number 1 Novak Djokovic as well as some other big guns such as Juan Martin del Potro, Bernanrd Tomic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
I also found a video from Roger, giving his thanks to his fans after turning 30. Happy Birthday Roger and good luck for many years to come.
In very good news.. Bernard Tomic has signed up for his home tournament of the Brisbane International.
“January’s coming and that’s Australian Open and Brisbane International time,” Tomic said. “You want to get here [Brisbane] before and prepare.
“I haven’t won a round yet in Brisbane, in the last three years, and if I can push and play well early in Brisbane… get some confidence before I lead into the Australian Open, I think it will be a really big benefit me for the 2012 Australian Open.
Im very interested to see how Tomic can perform at the US Open next month.
Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione have been able to push Australia ahead in their Davis Cup tie against China. The pair defeated Maoxin Gong and Zhe Li 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Australia now lead the tie 2-1.
Friday’s Results:
Bernard Tomic d Zhang Ze 6-3 5-7 6-4 6-4.
Di Wu d Marinko Matosevic 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-4
In a bit of a shock, Lleyton Hewitt has been left out of Australia’s Davis Cup tie with China. Hewitt has been saved for the doubles match while Bernard Tomic and Marinko Matosevic will play the single rubbers.
Tomic (71) and Matosevic (141) are still heavy favourites against the Chinese players Wu (404) and Zhang Ze (382).
Hewitt and Chris Guccione will contest the doubles rubber against Mao-Xin Gong and and Li Zhe.
Bernard Tomic has had an amazing run at this years Wimbledon. Tomic was the youngest players to make the round of 16 at Wimbledon since Boris Becker in 1987. Tomic won 7 matches in a row to qualify and then make it to the Quarterfinals. Bernard unfortunately wasn’t able to push past Novak Djokovic in the Qaurterfinals losing 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5.
In the match Tomic had a very slow start and then slowly grew into the match. Djokovic was really struggling in the second set with his serve and that continued at the start of the third set when Tomic got a break. However, he wasn’t able to control the break and eventually lost the set. In the final set it was very close until Djokovic broke at 5 all.
Bernard Tomic congratulations on an amazing tournament and moving your ranking from 158 to around 73.
Roger was asked, “do you welcome the Australians having a tennis player for a change after their great heritage?”
Federer commented:
“You talk like Lleyton isn’t around anymore. Be careful. He could have beaten Soderling. We’d be talking differently. For me, he still remains a great champion, always will be.
He almost seems a bit injured to me I’m sure he’s never going to say what was actually the problem with him. But he can really battle through, you know, I think tough moments.
That’s why I admire, you know, him as a player and his work ethic.”
As an Australian it is great to see another player doing well. For a long time we have had great tennis players at the top of the world game. Recently, we have been struggling to produce great male players (women players are doing very well and getting better). Thus, it is great to see Bernard Tomic playing some good tennis, but ideally Australia should really be aiming to have at least 20 players in the top 100 and at the moment we have none!
Bernard Tomic has been on an amazing roll this Wimbledon campaign. Tomic who is only 19 has performed well above expectations and will now face Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Tomic knocked out Xavier Malisse yesterday in straight sets (which was incredible). Xavier is an amazing player on grass, but it seemed like Tomic was a class above. However, I think it is going to be too much of a step up to match Novak Djokovic on the grass. We will find out tomorrow!
Last week you might have noticed that there were limited posts about Wimbledon 2011, this was because I was on holidays (I know what a stupid time to have a holiday). Anyways, I noticed that Bernard Tomic has been the surprise packet of Wimbledon 2011 so far.
I remember about 6 years ago when I was back home in Australia, I used to help coach Tomic when he was only 11. Tomic was a leading junior with great talent (however, his father was a nightmare!) and he started receiving coaching at the academy where I played and coached. Great things were expecting from Tomic for many years and now he is showing the world what he can do.
Tomorrow at Wimbledon Tomic will take on Xavier Malisse in the round of 16 at Wimbledon, after he defeated Robin Soderling (5) in the previous round. Im hoping he can keep this amazing run alive.
Its brilliant to see a young Australian player getting some good results. Australia has been lacking heavily in the Mens game for many years now. Tennis Australia needs to wake up and help more juniors make it to the next level.
Bernard Tomic and Casey Dellacqua are the two lucky Australians who will receive wildcards into this years French Open maindraw. These wildcards are given out as a reciprocal agreement between the Australian and French Tennis Federations.
It will be very interesting to see if Tomic (only 18 years old) can grab some success on the clay at Roland Garros. While Dellacqua has been on the comeback after a year full of injuries.
At this years French Open there will be a lot of female players with great opportunities to impress, but it still seems that the Australian men aren’t holding up their end of the bargain.
Young Australian Bernard Tomic has had a very interesting start to his Grand Slam career. After receiving a wildcard into the event he was drawn against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round and by god did he get a tennis lesson.
Sixteen-year-old wildcard Tomic went down 6-1 6-2 6-2 to the No.29 seed after being hampered by cramps in his left leg.
“I think my leg started cramping and I could feel … if I had pushed on a lot something would have happened,” Tomic said.
“I didn’t know what it was because I (had) never felt it before.
“That got to my frustration a little bit and I started thinking about that not my game.
Maybe it is just a bit too early for Tomic to be playing top level tour players and especially on clay. I think he would have had a better chance on a faster surface, but he really needs to be playing challengers and lower level tour events to just get some great matchplay under his belt.
The reigning Australian Open junior champion is eligible to spend another two years bolstering his already impressive age record, if he wants to.
But, after mixing junior and senior events in roughly equal measure in 2008, the talented Gold Coast teenager would prefer to speed up his development by committing fully to the men’s circuit next year.
“I’ve started this year to play more and more (open) Futures and Challengers, but then again I’ve played also juniors,” German-born Tomic said.
“I think it’s time to put juniors away next year hopefully and just focus on Challenger level and Futures and getting my ranking up to where I want it to be.”
Tomic is the junior world No.3, with the two players ranked above him both about 18 months older.
In the senior rankings, he is 772.
While he hopes to steadily cut that number, he needs to rely on the generosity of officials if he is to play in ATP events or senior grand slams.
His chief aims for the coming summer are to make his ATP debut at the Brisbane International, starting January 4, and then play in the Australian Open later that month.
He will need wildcards for both, a prospect that remains uncertain, particularly given Tennis Australia’s recent emphasis on awarding wildcards on a merit basis, with Tomic only the 26th-ranked Australian man.
Health and beauty brand Garnier, associate sponsor of the Australian Open, this week broadened its support of tennis to a rising star of the game, signing Bernard Tomic as a brand ambassador.
The two-year deal will see Tomic appear in both print and TV advertising for Garnier and make personal appearances at the hugely popular Garnier World during the Australian Open.
I have seen Tomic grow up as a player when he was training back at school on the Gold Coast. He used to get coached by the same academy as myself. Bernard has grown up as a player and a person a huge amount in the last 3 or so years, and this new sponsorship is a great stepping stone for him to reach his goals on the ATP Tour. Plus it helps to have IMG on your side!
In 2008, Tomic became the youngest player in the Open era to win the Australian Open Junior Championships, and reached the finals of the Wimbledon boys’ doubles.
In 2007, Tomic led the Optus Australian Junior Davis Cup team to victory at the world final and hoisted his third Orange Bowl trophy. In 2006, at just fourteen, he announced his presence on the international scene by winning four International Junior Tennis Federation (ITF) 18/u titles in just two months, and was recognised with the Garnier Rising Star Award, a $10,000 tennis scholarship in January 2007.
Announcing the signing, General Manager of Garnier, Mark O’Keefe said, “Garnier is excited to announce a partnership with Bernard Tomic. We believe Bernard reflects perfectly the youthful energy and passion that lies at the heart of the Garnier brand.
Young Australian Bernard Tomic has had a very interesting start to his Grand Slam career. After receiving a wildcard into the event he was drawn against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round and by god did he get a tennis lesson.
