Once a future star, Tomic is picking up pieces

Bengaluru: He was once ripping aces at the most iconic tennis courts in Grand Slams, but now is struggling to win rounds in Challengers. He was once touted to be the next big star of the sport, but now he is a forgotten potential.

Bernard Tomic’s younger self knew little about the fragility of time and the gifts he was born with in a sport that has taken the Australian to euphoric highs and despairing depths.  

The 31-year-old, who with time understood the ways of the world better, is on a road to redemption with one of the pit stops being the Bengaluru Open, an ATP Challenger event, here this week. He was in Chennai for three weeks where he won an ITF Men’s $25K Futures event on the day Jannick Sinner lifted the Australian Open title in Melbourne last month. 

“It's (tennis) a circus,” smirks Tomic when asked about his struggles with the sport. “I thought I played very well for 5-6 years from 18 to 25. I got tired mentally after that and I should have just gone away for at least 2 years. But I decided to go on even when I wasn’t really there.”

The highs: Won an Orange bowl title and two junior Grand Slam singles titles (2008 Aus Open and 2009 US Open). Has four ATP titles. The youngest player since Boris Becker (1986) to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinal (2011). Reached a career-high world ranking of 17.

The lows: Earned the nickname ‘the tank machine’ for throwing away matches. Dented relationship with his father, leading to mental health issues. Struggled to enter ITF Futures events for plummeting out of 1000 in ATP rankings. His idol, Lleyton Hewitt, claimed that Tomic threatened him and his family for refusing to pick him for the Davis Cup squad. Altercations with fans, Tennis Australia, former greats and fellow players made him the quintessential bad boy of tennis. 

“Oh, no, no!,” insists Tomic when asked if he is an arrogant person. “No. But if they feel so, that’s fine. I guess, maybe when I was young I did some stuff in my career that was not very nice. Well that was just an immature person, not grown up fully and didn’t understand how to go about things. 

“Of course, I had time to mature and do normal things in my life. Overall, you know, I'm happy to be playing well again and put more focus into my career since last year. Winning some matches that helped me go from 900 plus to wherever I'm now (currently ranked 273). Yeah, I missed a lot of tennis for years so I needed to lose, win and get the body fit and moving,” said the German-born Aussie to a Bosnian-Croat father and Bosnian mother.

Glimpses of the player he once was, were on display at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA). Tomic, with effortless ease, was walking around (literally) the court winning points before a break of his serve in the second set triggered Tomic’s demons to take over his mind. The loss in concentration resulted in a second round defeat to USA’s Tristan Boyer here. 

In one such moment during the match, Tomic, unhappy with a line call, looked at his girlfriend and trainer with a grin and said: “That's all I have man. That's all I have. Not in my hand".

It sounded more like a plea for someone to help him out of the rut - an expectation that comes along when he is now following the rule book that promises better things. 

“In the last couple of years, I have learnt a lot of things that have helped me be a better person and a player. Umm, mainly I want to be a better person to myself. Life is fair. I guess one day we all pay for our actions.”

Any regrets then? “No, not really. I’m back now and I have to keep going,” he nods his head and goes on to talk about doing good things, the existence of god and how humans are mortal beings. 

A once-upon-a-time ‘brat’ is now in search of his inner buddha. Tennis seems to be giving Tomic another chance. What will he make out of it this time?