Bernard Tomic’s future is full of uncertainty but if he walks away from tennis it will be a loss

IT’S been a journey of talent and torture, but are we finally seeing the end for Bernard Tomic? While plenty will be happy to see him walk away with his bevy of beauties and fast cars, his departure would be a loss, writes Jon Anderson.

Bernard Tomic of Australia prepares to leave the court after he lost to Kyle Edmund of Britain during their men's singles first round match at the ATP Chengdu Open tennis tournament in Chengdu, China's southwestern Sichuan province on September 26, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / STR / China OUT

IT’S been a journey of both talent and torture, but are we finally seeing the beginning of the end for Bernard Tomic?

To think just last year he had climbed to a career-high ranking of 17 before current languishing at a lowly 145 in the world, coming off a 2017 win/loss figure of 10/19.

Now he’s refused to compete in the qualifying rounds for the 2018 Australian Open as he struggles to commit to the demands of an ATP tour that most of us have little understanding of in terms of the extraordinary dedication required.

Bernard Tomic has had a turbulent 12 months

Tomic, 25, has never hidden the fact that he finds the daily grind of tournament tennis a drag, earlier this year admitting he had never loved the sport and had rarely produced anything like the effort required to match it with the guns.

Now that attitude is catching up with him, sheer talent, and he has that in spades, not being enough on its own to stay at the top in a brutal environment.

And while there will be plenty happy to see him sail off into the sunset with his bevy of beauties and fast cars (although both may start dwindling as the income diminishes), Tomic’s potential departure from the tour would be a loss.

He may lack the complete power game to challenge the top 10, but Tomic playing tennis is like watching a chess master, an unhurried and gifted maestro who cleverly sets points up.

He has also mostly behaved himself on court by way of comparison with another Australian talent in Nick Kyrgios.

Just recently I had the opportunity to witness him off-court in a non-tennis atmosphere as he shopped with his girlfriend in Chapel Street. He was both polite and humorous, a long way removed from the tortured soul we regularly see at post-game press conferences.

Hopefully he can find a mix, although if I was having a bet it would be on the fact we will never get to see the heights he could have reached.