Bernard Tomic cops it from Australian Open champion Thanasi Kokkinakis for Instagram prank
Gold Coast tennis pro Bernard Tomic’s caught the attention of an Australian Open champion with his Instagram prank. WATCH THE VIDEO
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GOLD Coast tennis pro Bernard Tomic caught the attention of Australian Open doubles champion Thanasi Kokkinakis with his latest Instagram prank.
Tomic posted to his account a video ringing sister Sara and telling her he was engaged to Ashley Rogers.
It is explained in the video the 29-year-old has to ring his sister and say he is getting married because he had lost a bet.
Tomic breaks the news by describing Ashley – who is helping with his social media foray - as the “love of my life” and says “I know it’s quick but don’t worry about it”.
He later tells his sister “don’t tell mum and dad”.
Sara is heard saying “what do you mean bro?” on the prank video that shows Tomic sitting next to the girl he is pretending to be engaged to.
“Bernard, you’re going to give us all a heart attack again. You just got out of a serious relationship, what do you mean,” Sara is heard saying.
She then asks Tomic’s new pretend flame “do you do OnlyFans?” to which Ashley replies “Not anymore … I love him.”
The video posted to Tomic’s 18k followers got mixed reactions, including a comment from Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Kokkinakis, who won the Australian Open Doubles with Nick Krgyrios, commented “these gotta stop BT” with a face palm and crying with laughter emoji.
TOMIC WINS NEW LOVER, AIMS TO EARN AUSTRALIA'S HEART
Resurgent Gold Coast tennis star Bernard Tomic’s new love match has been revealed as he attempts to win back the hearts of the Australian public with his on-court exploits.
Tomic, who has been taking fans behind the scenes at the Australian Open on social media, has called for the public to turn out and help him in his bid to beat his first-round opponent in the qualifying tournament for the Australian Open.
The world number 260 takes on Russian Roman Safiullin on Tuesday in Melbourne.
During his preparation, Gold Coaster Keely Hannah has been court side at Tomic’s training.
The pair have been sharing open affection on each other’s Instagram pages with love-themed emojis on photos.
Tomic is aiming to win the hearts of the rest of the country when he faces Safiullin, 24 – who like Tomic also made the second round at last year’s Open – in what was his first grand slam appearance.
Both players earned spots in last year’s tournament main draw by going through the qualifying rounds.
Melbourne Park brought another career highlight for Safiullin in 2015, when he won the junior grand slam title.
Recently he played in the ATP Cup, which included a victory over Australian James Duckworth to help Russia defeat Australia.
Tomic called on his home fans to support him against the world number 146.
“I’m playing against Roman Safiullin who has beaten Andy Murray. He’s going to be tough,” Tomic said in a public appeal to draw a crowd.
“If you guys can come out and support me it will mean a lot, it will help me a lot, little things like that can make all the difference.
“I hope I can see you there.”
Tomic said he had “tunnel vision” in terms of focusing on his first-round opponent and was not looking past that in the draw.
“Nothing really matters to me except the first opponent then I’ll study him, see if I have played him before,” he said.
“If I have, I pretty much know then what to do. Nothing really matters except the first round, first match, tunnel vision and that’s it.”
Tomic’s spokesman said Tomic had trained with Safiullin and “knows how he plays”.
“It suits (Tomic’s) style but he is one of the hardest players in the qualifying draw. He qualified last year and is coming off a really good streak so his confidence will be high,” he said.
“But Bernard also said Safiullin wouldn’t have liked to see that he drew him. Both made it through qualifying last year – so it’s unfortunate they drew each other.”
Tomic opens up on ‘close friend’ Djokovic’s visa saga
January 9, 2022
Resurgent Gold Coast tennis pro Bernard Tomic says he’s “praying for a good outcome” for his good friend and world number one Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic has gone to court to fight to stay in the country and defend his Australian Open crown and try to earn his 10th victory at the Melbourne tennis major.
Tomic, currently ranked 260 in the world and in Melbourne ahead of qualifying starting on Monday, said Djokovic was a “close friend” and the two have messaged each other since the Serbian superstar was put into hotel quarantine in Melbourne after a visa arrival fiasco.
“I consider Novak a close friend who has supported me for many years,” he said.
“We have messaged each other recently and I have made him aware that I will be praying for a good outcome whatever that may be,” Tomic told the Bulletin.
Lawyers for Djokovic, a 20-time Grand Slam winner equal with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, say he is in “shock” and “surprised” at being rejected at the airport as he felt he had done everything required to for quarantine-free entry to Australia as an unvaccinated traveller.
Court documents alleged he was granted a medical exemption into Australia because he was infected with Covid on December 16, which was confirmed by a PCR test.
Bit on entry into the country Djokovic was told by authorities that Covid-19 was not considered a medical contraindication for vaccination in Australia.
He has been allowed to stay in Melbourne in quarantine as his legal team challenges the decision in the federal circuit court on Monday.
Tomic said he wished Djokovic’s situation, which included being held at Melbourne Airport for almost 12 hours on Thursday morning, was “handled very differently”.
“I do, however, understand that rules are rules and no individual is above them,” Tomic said.
“In practice today for the Australian Open I saw Novak’s locker and it’s a shame that the number one player is going to miss out. I hope it all works out very soon.”
Fellow Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios has criticised Australia’s treatment of
Djokovic and some of the memes and commentary about it.
“I’m feeling for him now,” Kyrgios said. “It’s not really humane, is it, what’s going on?
“If this was a normal person they wouldn‘t have to deal with all this sort of media side of bulls**t. His life’s probably hard enough as it is, and I know what that’s like. I just hope it all gets sorted soon.”
Bernie’s back: Tomic to take fans on tour
January 7, 2022
GOLD Coast tennis prodigy Bernard Tomic is planning on taking fans behind the scenes as he returns to the pro tour – adding a social media manager to his team to document his journey back up the ranks.
The resurgent 29-year-old was scheduled to leave for Melbourne on Friday ahead of his first round match in the qualifying tournament for the Australian Open.
Team Tomic includes part-time Gold Coast-based coach Cole Smith and Real Media Group’s Ashlee Rogers to film him and help with his colourful new social media account.
So far his Instagram has included training videos, a montage hitting balls to an opera score and a public challenge to fellow Aussie Nick Kygrios. It also includes a motivational video to Eminem’s Lose Yourself which finishes with Tomic saying the only person who “gets in your way is you”.
The ex-world number 17 now ranked 254 said Ms Rogers will document his attempt to qualify for the main draw of the year’s first grand slam.
“Ashlee will help me take the tennis fans behind the scenes on social media to experience the amazing atmosphere of the AO and my journey,” Tomic said.
“Looking forward to it and thanks everyone who has been supporting me. It really helps.”
Smith, who helped prepare Tomic for last year’s AO – when he won three qualifying matches and a main draw round – said they had been working together for eight weeks.
“He’s in better shape physically and mentally this year – and he was in good shape last year.
“I think it’s good what he’s putting out there (on Instagram). The stuff he’s putting out is positive. I think at some point if he’s not playing well, the response by him should be pretty good because he has all this positive stuff in his head.”
Tomic’s first of three qualifying matches is on Monday.
Originally published as Bernard Tomic cops it from Australian Open champion Thanasi Kokkinakis for Instagram prank
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