Bernard Tomic started off his second round match in the 2011 Australian Tennis Open against Feliciano Lopez with an ace. He ended his three-set victory by reducing the world no 31 to a subdued, bewildered shambles of a player who seemed resigned to his fate of going under to unexpectedly to a much younger opponent.
In fact, from the opening ace onwards in the match, the 18 year-old Tomic was the poised, measured veteran and Lopez was seemingly the youngster who had just broken into the top world 200, and had that sinking feeling that he was out of his class.
Tomic was terrific, almost scientific on the big points. He had pin-pointed the Lopez sliced backhand as a weakness. When he needed a point, he repeatedly explored that side until Lopez made an error.
It is one thing to know where an opponent has a weakness. It is another – and much harder – thing to actually put the ball into the areas, and at the correct times, to exploit that weakness.
Tomic also displayed a good all-court game to complement his match nous. This is a different type of game to that of Lleyton Hewitt, to whom he is now being compared. He is nowhere near as fast around the court.
But he does have the ability to finish off points at the net. He also has a quickish first serve which gave him a number of easy points, a weapon that Hewitt has never had.
Roger Rasheed reckoned, a few days ago, that Tomic will be lucky to be a no 30 player. He cited his lack of speed around the court and his lack of power.
Judging from the television pictures, Tomic appears to have the sort of angular, wide-shouldered body that should fill out, rather like Roger Federer, as he gets into his 20s.
When he fills out, the power should come. Meanwhile, he has the sort of court-craft, but not the speed of foot, that made Hewitt such a fine and successful player when he was younger. You’d have to think that after this complete display of tennis skills that Tomic is a possible top-20, even top-10 player.
One thing that Tomic does not have – thankfully – is Hewitt’s often obnoxious court manner. Tomic played like Federer, Nadal and the greats of Australian tennis like Laver, Rosewall and Newcombe with a calm, sportsmanlike attitude.
There were no histrionics to unsettle his opponent. There were no tantrums when Lopez won a crucial point with a lucky net-point.
And at the end, when his unlikely win was completed, Tomic was almost diffident as he pumped his fist into the air.
Watching this display of skill and temperament by Tomic, I found it hard to equate this disciplined and intelligent performance with the reports from the Hewitt camp over the past couple of years of boorish behaviour by Tomic.
With Hewitt now at the end of his fine career, Tomic might just be the tonic that Australian men’s tennis needs. Rafael Nadal will end Tomic’s run next round. But who knows in a few year’s time if we’ll be able to say this with any confidence.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Who knows what he is going to achieve this week or in his career but lose the sunnies or moves to the Gold Coast and team them up with a safari suit.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
I'm more interested in Stosur winning than in Tomic winning. While I might become more comfortable with Tomic in the future, at the moment he annoys me too much, especially with his expecting a wildcard (which he recieved.)
UK Steve
Guest
What is it with Australian sports fans these days? You're a bunch of soft, politically correct wimps. Give me some examples of Hewitt's obnoxious court manner. Saying "c'mon", wow how dare he. Ken Rosewall was no angel and used to throw his racket around all the time. You seem like a bloke who watches tennis for two weeks a year and thinks he knows it all.
Oracle
Guest
Let's see how many games he wins against Nadal before getting carried away. Remember all the hype last year, which amounted to bugger all for the next 12 months.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
My question: Will Tomic eventually play a night match again at the AUS Open after Saturday (I know Sat night is pencilled in but this is because of Rafa and not Tomic) or will TA keep giving him day games unless he meets a very high ranked opponent? He mentioned this again in the article in the age today, saying he finds it hard to stay up past 10pm? How does he expect to climb the rankings if such a non-issue is stuck in his head because he lost at the AUS Open last year late at night?
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
exactly ... I actually admired how he was able to harness his limitations to produce some outstanding results - particularly in the Davis Cup
clipper
Guest
He won the US open by dismantling Sampras in the Final (7-6 6-1 6-1) - it wasn't as though Sampras was finished as he won the US open a couple of years later. I don't think Hewitt ever recovered after losing in the first round defending his Wimbledon crown.
Matt F
Guest
DS, it certainly is great to see the rise in women's sport, not just in Australia but they seem to be gaining recognition worldwide, but i think you've over-estimated the decline the to men a bit. in some think it's got more to do with generational change then anything else. also greater, fairr media coverage and funding of women's sport has allowed them a much fairer playigng field to play elite sport. around sydney 2000 it was mainly our mens swimming team getting the medals but now the current generation of women are rising up. a judgement on whether the current plight of the men's team is temporary or permanent won't probably be known until after London and maybe even Rio 2016. history says the rolse will swap constantly over time. In cricket we've just come out of the most succesful men's cricket era of not just australia, but probably international cricket's history. we were always going to slide eventually. also the women just got towelled by england in their T20 series and are playing their first test match in 2 years today or tomorrow trying, like our mens side, to regain the ashes currently held by england. the men have certianly fallen but so have the women. in football, our women are outstanding. quarter finals of the last world cup. however we're currently watching the slow decline of our best ever men's team ever. and like the cricket team the next generation don't look as good as the current greats. more generational then anything. both side have improved dramatically over the past 20-30 years though (and even further back.) on the surface women's tennis seems stronger. 3 women in the top 100 compared to 1 with stosur in the top 10 and seemingly getting better. however the other 2 women in the top 100 weren't developed here. they were developed o/s and even started their pro careers representing other countries before switchiung allegiances a few years ago. it's great to have them but they say nothing about TA's system. whilst a debate on the TA system is for another time i don't think the gaps that big. mainly just a a decline across the board as more and more countries start to play tennis. hockey, it's actually our men's team that's more dominant now. world number 1 and have won all before them the past 2 years. our women by contrast are ranked 5th. this of course was the opposite of 10 years ago and seems to go against the grain if anything. as for basketball, i think both genders have improved remarkabely. our women won the world champs and are consistant olympic finalists whilst in the mens we have a number one NBA draft pick, mills also plays NBA and more men then ever are going through the US college system and playing in the big european leagues. the women are certainly better but the men are by no means getting worse.
Melanie Dinjaski
Roar Guru
I think we can agree that was just an unfortunate instance of immaturity, particularly in regards to media management. Seeing his press conferences yesterday, I think you can see he's learnt a lot since. He was 17 at the time, you have to give him some slack.
Willy
Guest
Yep. You've got to admire him though - winning a Wimbledon title with that game is amazing.
Jason
Roar Guru
Definitely. That the stars may have aligned is one thing, but you can't be a poor tennis player and win an Open.
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
When he was at his peak I remember discussing his game with a few mates and whilst I felt him better than the earlier prototype of Chang - I just couldn't see him winning a major as he always played far too much tennis in the first week of the slams ... 3 set matches on the APT tour was managable but those battling 5 set victories that he always seemed to have in the early rounds meant he ran out of gas in the second - esp as the competition expedentially improved also ... from memory when he won his US open he didn't have that workload in the earlier rounds and he was able to take Sampras in the semis (if memory serves) ... but a young Hewitt now wouldn't work - the game has moved away from his game - players now need a weapon - which Hewitt never possessed - his all court running and chasing game wouldn't work now ... but you've got to give him his due he's been a great for Aussie tennis and certainly his major wins were well earned
ohtani's jacket
Guest
"Watching this display of skill and temperament by Tomic, I found it hard to equate this disciplined and intelligent performance with the reports from the Hewitt camp over the past couple of years of boorish behaviour by Tomic." I guess you're forgetting last year's Australian Open.
Willy
Guest
Hewitt was also lucky. He was at the top of his game between the Sampras era and the rise of Federer and Nadal. Players like Murray and Djokovic are almost certainly better players than him, but they've been unfortunate to run into two of the all time greats.
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
Definitely a good result for Tomic and he'll need to develop a weapon if he wants to climb into the elite level of the mens game ... hewitt never really had a weapon and relied on fight, fitness and returning everything a Mark II version of Chang ... the game (and time) has overtaken him ... had a rather interesting discussion down the local the other night on the rise of the Aussie female sportsperson - in comparison to the male conterpart ... nearly across the board in the traditional Australian sports the woman have progressed to equal or better .. in swimming it's been notable for some time - but now we're seeing it in tennis, cycling, football (which the men can equal if the pick up the Asian Champs) .. then throw in hockey, cricket and basketball ... interesting trend which surely can't all be laid at the feet of AFL hoovering up male talent