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Australian tennis great John Newcombe believes 2010 could make or break the burgeoning career of Bernard Tomic.
Tomic is widely considered the most likely successor to Lleyton Hewitt as Australia’s next world class player, but Newcombe has reservations about whether the young Queenslander has what it takes to reach the top.
“I think he’s got a long way to go,” the seven-time grand slam winner told AAP.
“He’s done well in the junior ranks and has got a couple of minor results in the seniors, but there is nothing yet to indicate that he will become a top-20 player.
“It’s a very important year for Bernard, because if he doesn’t make the advances and with the hype about him being so great it could end badly.
“His agents have done a lot of deals for him and if he doesn’t break into the top 100, you have to think maybe he doesn’t have it.”
Having won both the US Open and Australian Open junior titles, the 17-year-old has made steady but unspectacular progress on the senior tour.
At the age of 16, he reached the second round of last January’s Australian Open to became the youngest male tennis player to win a match in the grand slam event.
However, he went on to lose in the first round at the French Open and was knocked out in qualifying at Wimbledon.
And despite his tender years, Tomic has seen a number of his coaches come and go from his camp, with his father John heavily involved in developing his career.
Last year Tennis Australia officials censured Tomic senior following an outburst over alleged unfair treatment of his son.
And he was forced to apologise after pulling his son from a court in Perth mid-match and then alleging officials had a vendetta against him.
This was followed by a row with Hewitt after Tomic allegedly rebuffed an offer to practice with the former world No.1 at Wimbledon.
Former Davis Cup captain Newcombe said he was disappointed at the bust-up between the pair and indicated Tomic needed to reassess what he was doing if he was to progress.
“It was one of those ridiculous things that should never have happened. I have only heard one side of the story and that was from Lleyton,” he said.
“But how it all eventuated … it should never have happened like that.
“Something is not working. I think Tennis Australia provided five or six coaches over an 18-month period and they all left.
“The kid has got a lot of talent, but I don’t think he is as far advanced as he should be.
“There are a number of areas of his game that have holes and are not going to withstand the pressures out there in the major leagues.”
Newcombe said Tomic’s camp should look at the progress made by Andy Murray to see what needs to be achieved before targeting success in the seniors.
“Murray was never going to get where he is today by not getting fit,” Newcombe said.
“The entourage around him has done a great job in dedicating themselves to getting him fit which is what Bernard needs.
“I think on the athletic side he needs a lot of work.
“His game plan and the way he plays is not going to work up there in the major leagues either as he plays from well behind the baseline.
“He is a tall kid and if you are going to play from well behind the baseline then you had better be very quick at running from left to right and Bernard is not the quickest in the world.”
Newcombe believes this would have been pointed out to Tomic, but may have fallen on deaf ears.
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, there has to be a reason why all those coaches have departed.
“Maybe they are not listening and they want to do it their way, but time runs out, you can’t just keep doing that.”
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