No pressure on me, says Tomic
Bernard Tomic has shrugged off suggestions he could suffer a Sam Stosur-style nosedive at next week’s Australian Open.
As the country’s highest-ranked male player, Tomic dismissed the suggestion he might be affected by the weight of expectation.
Stosur, the US Open champion, was again outplayed by her perpetual tormentor, Italian Francesca Schiavone, who knocked her out of the first round of the Sydney International on Monday.
The 19-year-old Brisbane International semi-finalist will be one of the eight high-calibre players contesting the Kooyong Classic starting in Melbourne on Wednesday.
He will face Czech World No.7 and Hopman Cup winner Tomas Berdych in his first match.
The others against whom Tomic could test himself are French pair Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, former world No.1 Andy Roddick, US star Mardy Fish, as well as promising young Canadian Milos Raonic and Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer.
But the 37th-ranked Tomic said his off-court attitude was as calm and unworried as he appeared while playing matches.
“There’s a lot of pressure going around, especially for me being young but I like to play tennis and enjoy it out there. I don’t worry about it off-court,” Tomic said.
“I know Sam lost but I’m playing well and I’m confident, but I’ll worry about the business outside when I lose.
“I’ll have fun and wherever this year takes me, it takes me. I’m not really worried about where my ranking is.
“That’s why I’m doing well. That’s what I like to focus on and I know my ranking will come after that.”
Seven-time major winner John McEnroe this week earmarked Tomic as a future grand slam winner, but Roddick was more circumspect on Tuesday.
“We’ll see,” Roddick said.
“Everybody ranked at a certain ranking is a potential grand slam winner, especially when they’re at a young age.
“They’re for sure going to be top 15, top 10 players but it’s hard to predict who becomes top five for a long time and who doesn’t, but they’ll certainly have a shot at it.”
Tsonga will meet Melzer in the opening match on Wednesday followed by the clash between Tomic and Berdych.
Fish will then meet Raonic while the last match will be between Monfils and Roddick.
© AAP 2012Recommend this story.
The Turkey 10
The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.
Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!
Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.
Find out more.
The Crowd Says (1) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Australian Open, Bernard Tomic, Tennis
January 12th 2012 @ 1:41am
Reece Jordan said | January 12th 2012 @ 1:41am | Report comment
No tennis player in recent memory has split my opinion of them as much as Tomic. By default, I’d love to cheer for an Aussie, but I’m still trying to figure out whether Tomic is cool-headed or just plain arrogant. If I decide the latter, I couldn’t bring myself to pull for him because he seems more than overconfident of his abilities. Or is he just trying to say not to worry about the pressure? Somebody, help!?