Bernard Tomic faces the humiliating prospect of having to qualify for the Australian Open after his year from hell continued with a disastrous first-round US Open loss in New York.
In his first match since being fined a Wimbledon-record $US15,000 for saying he was “a little bored” during his first-round defeat at the All England Club, Tomic succumbed 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 to 19th seed Gilles Muller.
Tomic is provisionally projected to slump to 14second in the rankings, leaving the one-time grand slam quarter-finalist and world No.17 very much at a career crossroad.
Unless he improves his ranking to around 105 by the end of the season, the 24-year-old will be at the mercy of Tennis Australia as he hunts a wildcard into his home major.
But an insider told AAP they suspected TA would be reluctant to extend such generosity to Tomic after he opted out of last year’s Rio Olympics and no longer represents Australia in the Davis Cup.
Tomic won the Australian Open junior crown at just 15 in 2008 before becoming the youngest player in history to win a men’s main-draw match at Melbourne Park when he beat Italian Potito Starace the following year.
Two years later he became the youngest Wimbledon quarter-finalist since Boris Becker in 1986.
But his career has been in a downward spiral all season, virtually since the day he opted to boycott Australia’s first-round Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic over a reported family funding feud with TA.
Isolated for much of the year from his former teammates, Tomic complained of being burnt out during his extraordinary post-match press conference at Wimbledon.
Tennis great John Newcombe feared the troubled star was close to suffering breakdown before Tomic revealed during a TV interview that he’d spent much of his career not giving 100 per cent in matches.
Newcombe said he also thought Tomic would need to hit rock bottom before he realised he was throwing his career away.
The super talent is now very much on the way to rock bottom.
Unlikely to gain many wildcards to big events after conceding he had lost motivation for the game, Tomic will need to play low-level Challenger events to boost his ranking if the former teenage prodigy wants to fight to save his career.
Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Alex de Minaur has missed out on the chance of a lifetime to beat Rafael Nadal on clay in successive tournaments, blown away by…
The Spaniard scores first Top 20 win since November 2022, and reversed the result of a few weeks ago where the Australian came out…
Former Wimbledon champion, double grand slam winner and Australian Open finalist Garbine Muguruza has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30.…
Rafael Nadal has hailed the brilliance of Alex de Minaur, calling him "a great player" after the Australian forced the Spanish legend to say…
The clay season promises to be one of high level and tight margins. With the Monte Carlo open just around the corner, it will…
In incredible scenes, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was halted abruptly due to a "bee invasion." Less…
