Tomic Shames Professional Tennis

[Nekro]

Marat Safin used to do the same, in one of the AO matches he caught a second serve with his hand instead of returning. But he was smart enough not to verbally disrespect the sport that gave him everything. In his memoir he mentioned how earning money was really the sole purpose why he went out there, as his mum told him to 'go and get it'.

Not sure why he mentions Federer though, as Roger is totally the opposite of him......loves the sport and never tanks nothing.

Imo Tomic realized he's not good enough to get big so he's frustrated and angry at himself, this is clearly self-destructive behaviour from him, i see the same from Bouchard..... She's too old to fix her serious technical flaws + everybody figured out her counterpunching game and her dreams are crushed.... That's why she chose to do the bullying campaign against Sharapova, because she wants to be in the centre of attention but she can't achieve it with her ugly and technically flawed game.... They're both channeling their big ambitions and egos into something negative and destructive....

The difference between Safin and Tomic is that Safin had multi GS winning talent so he was at peace with himself and the world, that's why he didn't say things like Tomic..... On the other hand Tomic got unreal hype when he didn't have the talent......

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Henk writes:

MargaretMcAleer, spot on and that's what I was referring to when I wrote, "spoilt brat" and "too much too soon". I have seen other players getting ridiculous sponsor deals and never ever making it because of the pressure from early on. Scoop, yes he was indeed still 14 when he played the Junior USO for the first time. He lost in the qualies but made it into the Main Draw as a LL and then lost in the round of 16 to none other than Jerzy Janowicz. He went on to win the Orange Bowl in the 16's and then the Junior AUS Open having turned 15 only a few months before. This kid started winning ITF Grade 4 tournaments at age 13 and ended his Junior career winning the USO at age 16. And yes there were issues then already, but I was referring to the arrogance part which didn't show until he was almost 16. He was actually pretty charming when he won the Orange Bowl in the 16's as a 15-year-old. Sad to see it all go to waste.

 

[Nekro]

Henk writes:

yes he was indeed still 14 when he played the Junior USO for the first time. He lost in the qualies but made it into the Main Draw as a LL and then lost in the round of 16 to none other than Jerzy Janowicz. He went on to win the Orange Bowl in the 16's and then the Junior AUS Open having turned 15 only a few months before. This kid started winning ITF Grade 4 tournaments at age 13 and ended his Junior career winning the USO at age 16. And yes there were issues then already, but I was referring to the arrogance part which didn't show until he was almost 16. He was actually pretty charming when he won the Orange Bowl in the 16's as a 15-year-old. Sad to see it all go to waste.

Junior results don't mean anything... The juniors' AO was just won by Piros Zsombor, one of the least talented and weakest players in the already weak Hungarian field.....

In the end what counts is that Tomic is a pusher.... a sucky one at that..... He's like Bouchard....Maybe with more persistence he could turn into a Wozniacki....

An article about Tomic's game, it was still an optimistic one, but what it all boils down to is that he's a pusher: http://www.essentialtennis.com/the-peculiar-game-of-mr-tomic/

People with brains knew early he was a useless pusher: https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/bernard-tomic-extremely-overrated.395101/

 

[Ricardo]

Tomic was also given a IMG contract and a Nike contract as a junior.Looking back in hindsight,to me.this was the start of his entitlement.Tomic and his father have had many arguments with Tennis Australia.Tennis Australia backed down on many occasions.Tomic was seen as our 'Knight in Shining Armour' to get us out of the tennis doldrums.Tomic has really never 'evolved' as a player to me.He has intimated many times in the press here in Australia he does
not train as hard as he should.Tomic is a tall player and for starters should have a better serve than he does.This latest outburst to me living in Australia is disgraceful and some of our 'legends' feel the same way.

people have been saying he relaxed too much in his ferrari in gold coast, and last year i saw him there being totally relaxed.....i guess people are correct when they say pro tennis pays too much money, it corrupts players spirit when you can earn multi millions without winning anything major.......on top of that they get pretty girls falling their way too.

Having said that, you need to be one in a million talent to be Tomic. He is lucky to have talent, bad luck to the average Joes who probably work harder but won't ever get a fraction of what Tomic got.

 

[Ricardo]

Imo Tomic realized he's not good enough to get big so he's frustrated and angry at himself, this is clearly self-destructive behaviour from him, i see the same from Bouchard..... She's too old to fix her serious technical flaws + everybody figured out her counterpunching game and her dreams are crushed.... That's why she chose to do the bullying campaign against Sharapova, because she wants to be in the centre of attention but she can't achieve it with her ugly and technically flawed game.... They're both channeling their big ambitions and egos into something negative and destructive....

The difference between Safin and Tomic is that Safin had multi GS winning talent so he was at peace with himself and the world, that's why he didn't say things like Tomic..... On the other hand Tomic got unreal hype when he didn't have the talent......

well he is still one in a million talent so i wouldn't talk him so low. and i don't think its so simple that he just realised he's not 'good enough'.......because he was never known to have trained as hard as tennis greats have. He definitely got self-entitlement because tennis rewards these boys so much, so early (with money and women) that it corrupts him......we all know what happened to Safin but he did work for it when he started out with nothing while Tomic had always been pampered.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

scoopmalinowski writes:

Wilander is spot on! Agree with Mats on this. Tomic actually is brave to be so sincere. Not being phony. Hes terribly frustrated he cant invade the Big Five echelon. He told us the ugly truth. Gotta respect that.

 

[Nekro]

well he is still one in a million talent so i wouldn't talk him so low. and i don't think its so simple that he just realised he's not 'good enough'.......because he was never known to have trained as hard as tennis greats have. He definitely got self-entitlement because tennis rewards these boys so much, so early (with money and women) that it corrupts him......we all know what happened to Safin but he did work for it when he started out with nothing while Tomic had always been pampered.

And what constitutes his talent exactly? Just watch his old vids, his peak time when he won all those junior titles... He was a pusher then he's a pusher now..... We could say he has a good variety of shots and he has some swag, we could say "omg the kid reminds me of Santoro" but the truth is he has no solid weapons.... He has some nice slices, some nice shots here and there but no big weapons and his movement is just horrible, he runs lamer than Steven Seagal....

young tomic was so talented, lol, a comparison with Hewitt:

Hewitt vs Tomic: 16 years old: Hewitt ranked #162 ATP. Tomic ranked #818 ATP. 17 years old: Hewitt #101 ATP, including 2 wins over world #4 Pat Rafter. R16 at Aussie Open. Won Adelaide & Sydney. Tomic ranked #295. 2nd round of Aussie Open. 18 &19 yrs old: Hewitt #6 ATP. 4th round Aussie Open. Multiple ATP Tour titles & wins over Top 10 players. Tomic #48 ATP. 20 yrs old: Hewitt #1 ATP. U.S Open Champion. Tomic: lol

Why exactly should we be so enthusiastic about Tomic and his talent?

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Scoop- Actually I agree with you and it's refreshing to hear someone spill it all in those useless press conferences instead of bland on bland if not downright untruths. It's been clear for a long time that Tomic has a complicated relationship to the game, a lot springing from his family background (father esp) and maybe an immature personality not ready to deal with all the stuff relative success at an early age throws at you. He shouldn't be penalised, not just for talking. Might sort himself out, might drift away from tennis. That's his choice. He'll be beaten a lot anyway with his current attitude so can't see much of a future.

 

[britbox]

OK, one point to Tomic for being honest, but fifty points away for basically admitting tanking in a grand slam tournament. Catherine - I think not penalising him sets a dangerous precedent. It shafts the public watching and then there is the more seedy side of the sport such as betting, match fixing etc that can encroach on things. Not to mention the fact that another player who could have stepped in and played instead of him. Sorry, he's a disgrace - maybe a disgrace with some honesty, but a disgrace nevertheless.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Britbox - I see your point but 'tanking' is a difficult thing - players can 'give up' ostensibly, I've seen them do it, but they're not always clear afterwards what their state of mind was. I wonder also about the degree of control Tomic has over his behaviour now - he just may not be able try harder, the way a seriously depressed person can't do things, and they may not be completely conscious of what's wrong or be able to admit it directly. So it comes out as simply not caring. Manmy years ago a very famous player tanked a Wimbledon final but didn't say so until a long time afterwards - of course in those days there were no post-match interviews. No one at the time called the defeat 'tanking' or maybe dared to.But it was.

 

[britbox]

Seles?

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Hartt writes:

Tomic was fined $15,000. Even if he does win some matches, fines could eat into his prize money.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Britbox - No - it was BJK - she's mentioned it herself so no secret. 1969. She fell behind in the 3rd set v Anne Jones and gave up trying. Blamed it on exhaustion and off court pressures. Hartt- I saw Tomic was fined for 'faking an injury' or for 'comments made' so which was it ? And I seriously doubt that Bernie, in his current psychological condition, can continue to play for another 10 years. Of course at 24 life seems a little different. I suppose - I can't really remember

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Catherine; Wilander is being criticized but he made a very persuasive argument for Tomic and it swayed me 180. Tomic mentally has given up hope and belief that he can beat the elites in a major. That is refreshingly honest and realistic. He's not deluding himself and he'd decided to enjoy his life on the tour instead of driving himself crazy with obsessions to be the best. I actually think there is some honor in this courageousness to confess it. Thanks to Wilander for helping us see this perspective. I cant believe in one interview by Wilander I have changed my opinion on Tomic. Apologize to Tomic fans and Tomic for being so harsh with this article.

 

[britbox]

I don't think he confessed that Scoop. He said he was bored and unmotivated and needed to recapture enjoyment of playing. His ridiculous comments re: Federer and Djokovic are shameful. He's not fit to carry the jock of either one of them.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Scoop - Wilander often has a balanced view on things I find. Very intelligent guy and not afraid to go against the flow of opinion. I think that Kerber (skip this Dan) if she loses today, and she may well, might find a comparable relief in no longer being burdened with the strain of staying No 1 and all the criticism that seems to go with it, and rediscover enjoyment in playing. Let Simona or Pliskova try on No 1 for a while. Love all the stuff about flying ants - we're used to them here. They don't hurt you, but not a taste thrill to swallow

 

[TFBlogGuest]

jg writes:

Gulbis looking good, does anyone have a better backhand?

 

[britbox]

jg - How many fingers have you got?

 

[kskate2]

Andrew Miller writes:

Agree with Moxie. Tomic likely finds himself doing a job he doesn't like - he likes the benefits but hates the job. Agassi in his book said that's what he recognized, he came to understand that he had a talent for a job he didn't like. He made peace with that and here we are. Lendl seemed to like golf more. Fish actually went onto the semipro golf world as well. Michael Jordan went into baseball. Point is all of them returned with some kind of truce with the sport. I don't think Tomic's beyond that kind of truce with a game that chose him. To me I hate seeing players tank. I tanked once and it was out of frustration. I didn't like seeing Coric tank a few years back in Australia to Kuznetsov the Russian. Or Agassi tank against Cahill in Davis Cup back in 1990 in St Pete/Tampa. Heck I didn't even like seeing Roddick surrender to inevitability in the fifth set against Federer at Wimbledon in 2009, when he started giving in just enough for Federer to pull out a match that seemed within Roddick's reach. But tanking exists. Tomic may not find a way out of his dislike of a sport his dad forced him into, or find himself a way to love a sport that criticizes him so consistently (welcome to the sport). I hope he does find some way to think and approach the sport in a healthier way.

I get it Andrew. He doesn't like his job very much. That's most of society. You either grin and bear it or hit the want ads. People who go on Facebook and other social media outlets to bash their employers soon find themselves out of work. This stunt in the press conference is no different. I'm glad they gave him a $15,000 fine. If he's so bored and doesn't want to be out there, then don't play. Go to beach, the club or wherever you get your jollies and leave the tennis court for serious people who actually want to play.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Agree on that Britbox, asking Fed to return his prize money is implying he tanked or was aided by tanking. That is the only explanation I can think of for Tomic to have injected Federer's name into that discussion. Very weird. Tomic seemed to be all in on going for it at US Open last year as Hewitt was on the practice court with him on his side and he practiced with Kyrgios on Armstrong on the Thursday afternoon during qualies. Since then Tomic has managed to alienate himself from Hewitt and Nick. It would be very interesting to learn the inside dynamics of what really happened between Tomic and Hewitt/Kyrgios who both apparenly want nothing to do with Tomic. Tomic has been left off the Davis Cup team for the last over half year.