Patriotism spreads like crazy during the Australian Open. For two weeks (for some it’s two-hours) the nation pays attention to players like Matthew Ebden, Sophie Ferguson, Carsten Ball and Sally Peers. Oh… and Bernard Tomic.
Not since the now reformed Corey the party boy (you know the kid with the ridiculous sun glasses) has a teenager had the ability to get people off side so quickly.
Some are willing to give him a chance… well because they have no choice.
Tomic is the future of Australian tennis. Like or not, he’s all we’ve got! How bright that future will be remains to be seen.
Others will never get on board and will be no more than mildly amused whenever he wins a match.
The 18-year-old is constantly compared to Lleyton Hewitt despite the two being completely different players. It’s like expecting Steve Smith to be Shane Warne. We want the two to be one, but we’re blinded by past glories.
Hewitt was an amazing talent when he was younger.
He would do his best impersonation of the Road Runner and ‘meep meep’ his way around the court. He was aggressive and the emotion, strain and tension of every point was etched on his face.
Tomic is the exact opposite to the point of needing to check him for a heartbeat at regular intervals. Not because he lacks drive, as some suggest, but because he goes about his business in such a calm manner.
His strokes are cautious, but extremely well placed, making up for the way he strolls around the court. There seems little urgency about his game, yet it is so effective… for him.
It seems like he doesn’t care, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The package Tomic is developing, on and off the court, may not be to everyone’s liking, but what if it’s exactly what he needs to develop into a successful player?
What if he needs to miss the Australian Open qualifiers to practice on the Gold Coast? He said he was sick and a nation jumped on his back and called him a liar.
Yet he came out an annihilated Jeremy Chardy in straight sets in the first round of the main draw at Melbourne Park.
Admittedly Chardy played like he’d never picked up a racquet before, but the Aussie isn’t to blame for that.
At this stage we have to trust that those developing the Tomic package know exactly what they’re doing. They see him every day and know what makes him tick.
Ultimately they’ll live and die by their decisions.
His biggest problem is the need for the big stage. His motivation on Rod Laver Arena is undoubted, but he needs to muster the same determination on the courts closer to the car park if he’s to be successful.
Tomic doesn’t have the stats Hewitt had in his younger days and he occasionally acts like the world number one instead of the world number 199. But he’s so young that it’s hardly fair to judge him as a person at this point.
He won’t be able to escape people picking over his game in microscopic detail, but if Tomic hasn’t matured by the time he’s no longer a teenager then I’ll admit I’m wrong about him.
For now, he’s just a teenager who happens to have an extremely bright future… if he wants it.
The jury manning the court of public opinion should hold their verdict for now.
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