Why Bernard Tomic is the saddest story in sport
A 14-year-old Bernie Tomic said he loved tennis ‘from the ground to the sky’. What would he say to the world-weary 28-year-old version?
I cannot shake the thought that Bernie Tomic is the saddest story in Australian sport.
Celebrities get asked a corny old question all the time. What would you tell your teenage self? As Tomic emerges from his hotel, blinks at the Melbourne sun and prepares for his first match of the summer on Monday, a penny for the opposite interaction between young and older.
What would the starry-eyed 14-year-old Tomic say to the world-weary 28-year-old version? Probably something along the lines of, bloody hell, old mate, what happened?
George Bernie Shaw reckoned youth was wasted on the young. He was on to something when it comes to Tomic.
The 14-year-old was the best junior in the world by a million miles. So good he was signed by IMG, alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, as a sure-fire future major champion. He said in an interview that he loved tennis “from the ground to the sky. It’s my soul.” Now? What a sad quote that has become.
He plays Marc Polmans in one of those tournaments being played in Melbourne. The Great River Road Open. The Murray Ocean Open. I can’t tell them apart. As an athlete, Tomic ain’t exactly matured like a Mount Mary cabernet.
He could have been anything, this fella. He reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals as an 18-year-old in 2011. He was the youngest quarter-finalist since Boris Becker in 1986. He had Djokovic covered for the quality of tennis.
Inexperience did him in. At one set all on Centre Court, with Australian fans in full support — “Let’s go, Bernie, let’s go!” — and Djokovic throwing his hands skywards in exasperation, falling on his haunches, shaking his head, rubbing his brow, Tomic was all over him. When Djokovic won in four tough sets, he said: “We were playing cat and mouse out there. I’m just lucky to get through.”
Tomic was Djokovic’s regular practice partner. He’s gone from playing toe-to-toe with an all-time great to bumbling from one calamity to the next.
The tank jobs and threatening to punch Lleyton Hewitt’s lights out and his humiliating appearance on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here and his free fall in the rankings to No 229. He’s been ranked in the 200s before. He was 16.
Sad, all of it. I’m not buying his bravado. All he cares about is being rich? Rubbish. I doubt he’s as rich as he claims, anyway. His prizemoney hasn’t exactly skyrocketed since he started hitting the skids in 2016. Sponsors are not exactly beating down the door. He had more endorsements as a 15-year-old winner of the Orange Bowl. I think he boasts of non-existent riches purely to piss people off.
His comments about being coached by his girlfriend cannot have been taken seriously. He treats interviews as a bit of a joke and makes a few of his own during them.
When Tomic won his first professional tournament at the Sydney International in 2013, with his father John in the box, it looked like they were on their way. Now? The relationship status with his father is anyone’s guess.
I looked up a few of Tomic’s more memorable quotes on Sunday that gave a pretty accurate timeline of his career. I wondered what the 14-year-old with the world at his feet, signed to IMG because of the prodigious talent, would think of the bloke now double his age.
Tomic as a 14-year-old: “I love all the competition in tennis, the battle, the trophies, the winning, coming back when no-one thinks you can, like Lleyton. I’d love to reach the top 10.
“You know, everyone has dreams in their life to become something special, reaching number one in the world.”
Tomic at the same age: “I want the serve of Goran Ivanisevic, the heart of Lleyton Hewitt, the mind of Pete Sampras and the groundstrokes of Roger Federer. I want to be No 1 in the world and win all the grand slam tournaments.“
The 18-year-old Tomic after the Wimbledon quarter-final against Djokovic: “I’m proud of myself. What a player Novak is. I think I gave it, yeah, as much as I could today.
“I was not too far off, but he’s a better player than me at this stage … (this tournament), it’s just shown me, you know, what player I am, how I can compare and play against these players. You know, it’s shown me what I’m capable of doing in the future.” — June 29, 2011.
The 20-year-old Tomic after winning the Sydney International: “Now that I know what it feels like to win a tournament, and it’s the best feeling in the world … I feel unstoppable.
“I feel like I’m playing great tennis. When you know that no one can beat you, not even the No 1, you got a good feeling. It’s amazing stepping on court.”
The 23-year-old Tomic to a spectator at the US Open: “I will put my balls in your mouth. And I will give you some money to make you feel good.”
The 26-year-old Tomic after a lame loss to Italian Lorenzo Sonego at the 2018 Australian Open: “I just count money, that’s all I do. I count my millions. You go do what I did. You go make 13-14 million. Good luck guys. Bye bye.”
Tomic at the same age after quitting I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here: “I’ve got to get back to where I belong. It might take me six months, but every day’s going to be a step closer and every day I spend out there (on the show) is a day I lose. As soon as I get back I’ll be training, getting ready to go to particularly tournaments and stuff and where I should be in the sport, in the top 20, top 15 and push for the top five in the world.”
Four years ago, Tomic was shown a photograph of his young ebullient self holding a trophy and talking about his sport with gushing excitement.
The love of it from ground to sky. In his soul.
He was asked what he would say to that mega-talented kid. He replied, “I would tell my younger self, ‘Don’t play tennis’.”
That’s desperately sad.
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