Bernard Tomic’s first ever victory at the French Open and as a seed at a Grand Slam, a win over Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer was a great way to start what could be a pivotal month for the Australian.
Tomic, who is only 19, is aiming to be ranked among the best players in the world this year.
If Bernard Tomic is to achieve a top ten ranking at the end of the season, the next month, which includes the current Grand Slam in France and the grass court season, is incredibly important.
The main reason for the next month being crucial is that the Australian will have to defend over a third of his points, in order to maintain his ranking.
This includes a challenger tournament in Nottingham and of course his quarter final appearance in Wimbledon last year, which kick started his significant rise in the rankings.
In order to keep his ranking, Tomic will need to perform well firstly at Wimbledon, but then at the other tournaments in and around Wimbledon and of course at the current Grand Slam the French Open.
With Tomic’s first round win at the French Open, he has already gained 45 points, which he didn’t get last year because he failed to win.
If he defeats Columbian Santiago Giraldo in his second round match then Tomic will move to 90 points with a potential third round meeting against Andy Murray if he is successful.
This is a realistic opportunity for Tomic to progress, because he defeated Giraldo in Rome a couple of week ago in three sets. While it won’t be easy, Tomic should still prevail but probably in four or five sets.
If he can take 90 or more points from Roland Garros then the next month becomes that little bit easier for the Australian.
Before Wimbledon, Tomic is due to play at both Halle and Eastbourne, two tournaments the Aussie didn’t compete in last year.
At Halle, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are in the draw as well as a few other big players, so the Aussie will do well do score decent points at the ATP 250 event.
In Eastbourne, however, Tomic is the fifth seed and could go far into the tournament considering as he is good on grass. If he can do that and potentially upset a couple of players at Halle then the Australian could have the points needed to defend his quarter final spot at Wimbledon before he arrives at the famous London complex.
Speaking of Wimbledon, Tomic could be aided – much like at Roland Garros – by his seeding at Wimbledon. If all goes to plan then Tomic will be a seed once again at London and get a perfect opportunity to progress to the third round without facing a seed in the process.
If Tomic can repeat his quarter final appearance or do even better, the Australian will be in the perfect position to potentially move into the top 20 and even top 10 by the end of the year because he hardly has to defend any points in the final half of the year.
Apart from two 90 point hauls at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo and the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters, Tomic really doesn’t have too much to defend.
In order to get into the top 20, Tomic needs another 360 points, while to be in the top 10, Tomic needs another 1,385.
If Tomic performs well in the next month then both are realistic targets that can be achieved with the US Open and the ATP Masters 1000 events at the end of the year. However, if he fails to perform in the next month then he will most likely stay where he is and maybe push into the top 20.
All we know is that Tomic has his destiny in his hands; let’s see how he deals with the pressure.
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