Bernard Tomic launches another career comeback

Brisbane is the setting for Bernard Tomic’s first final in two years on Saturday.

Bernard Tomic is unbeaten in a round robin event being held in Brisbane this week and will play in the final on Saturday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Bernard Tomic finds himself in a situation on Saturday that is now a rarity but was once as regular to him as getting a racquet restrung.

He will feature in a final on Australian soil. Hallelujah.

And while the tournament is a low-key affair, it is at least a step in the right direction in Bernie’s battle to bounce back to the big-time.

The UTR Pro Tennis decider he will play in Brisbane on Saturday is far from the heights he was expected to reach when considered the next great hope of Australian tennis.

There was a time in his youth when he needed only to enter a junior tournament to be almost guaranteed of taking the spoils, such was his dominance.

From Miami to Melbourne, the kid from the Gold Coast ripped through draws, claiming Orange Bowls and Australian Open junior titles. But that is half his lifetime ago.

Once a stadium court drawcard — he was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist as a teenager and the Sydney International champion aged 20 — Tomic now plies his trade on the fringe of the tour.

The most recent headlines he generated related to his appearance on an adults only website with his new partner.

But if the 28-year-old is to have any hope of returning to the main tour — and Tomic faces a testing journey to do so — he needs to be playing matches somewhere.

Which is why a week spent picking up his own balls and grabbing his own towels is important, though his appearance may be through necessity.

The man who once boasted about counting his millions has earned only $38,431 this year.

And the last season the Queenslander actually cleared the million-dollar mark in prizemoney was in 2016, a year where he reached a career-high ranking of 17. He now sits at 226.

Bernard Tomic arrives for a match of the UTR Pro tournament at the Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Dan Peled.

Tomic retains the tools that enabled him to compete against the very best and to win four ATP Tour titles, the most recent of which came in China two years ago when he edged Fabio Fognini in the final.

Although pushed to three sets by Moerani Bouzige in the final outing of his three round-robin matches this week, the one-time Davis Cup flagbearer had plenty in hand.

The right-hander crunched backhands on occasion, with a beautiful passing shot in the final game when under pressure a reminder of the talent Tomic possesses.

By and large, he was able to hold serve easily, the mid-set blips in the first and second sets aside. And he actually moved well, which has never been his greatest strength.

But he will need to sharpen his form significantly if he is to play any part in the Australian summer, or on the main ATP Tour later in the season.

In his 7-5 3-6 6-3 win over the world No 1872 — that is not a misprint — Tomic won only one more point than a rival on the lowest rungs in the rankings.

The Gold Coast professional whipped his shirt off before he had reached the net to thank his rival for letting him off the hook and then slumped in his chair for a period.

He will face Tasmanian Harry Bourchier, who is ranked 325, in the final at Tennyson today.

Tomic has fought back from the rankings wilderness twice previously in his career.

After undergoing two hip surgeries prior to returning for the infamous 28-minute loss in Miami in 2014, he had slipped from the top 100 midway through the season, but was able to rebound as his match fitness returned.

The debacle of 2017, in which Tomic was fined by Wimbledon and stripped of his Head sponsorship after stating he faked an injury and was bored by the sport, saw him dip to 243.

He was able to bounce again, though this time his return to the top 100 was briefer and his results nowhere near as strong as his previous attempt, his success in a Challenger in Mallorca and Chengdu aside.

The path to doing so again is far more challenging now and one exacerbated by the impact COVID-19 is having on the sport. The opportunities at lower level are likely to be scarcer and his opponents hungrier than ever.

Given the mind-boggling spray Tomic directed to his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open nearly two years ago, he has no hope of securing a wildcard in February.

If he wishes to play the Australian Open, where he has reached the last 16 three times, he will need to travel to Doha for the event played from January 10 to 13.

Having fallen in qualifying at major level three times in the last three years, he is far from assured of success. And he would need to quarantine if returning to Australia.

It is a significant gamble. Whether he rolls the dice will provide an indication as to how desperate Tomic is to return to the big-time.