A TOMIC COUP

Written by: Staff on 12th October 2011

A TOMIC COUP

Bernard Tomic of Australia returns the ball to Mardy Fish of the USA during the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan, on 07 October 2011. EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN |

Tomic defeated NOVAK DJOKOVIC (CRO) at the 2010 event and so began a firm friendship between the two. Djokovic said at the time “he’s a very good player, he’s got the shots, he’s got the weapons, definitely”. Those words returned to haunt him at Wimbledon this year, when the young Australian took Djokovic to four sets in the quarter finals. Having qualified for the tournament and gone on to beat Davydenko (RUS), Andreev (RUS), Soderling (SWE) and Malisse (BEL) to reach the quarters,Tomic had finally “arrived”, showing the full potential that experts had been expecting from him for some time.

The youngest Grand Slam quarter-finalist since 1986 and youngest ever player to win an Australian Open junior title (2008 at 15) left last week for the US where he will play lead-in events to the US Open later this month.

Tournament Director, Colin Stubs, has had Tomic on the top of his “to get” list since Wimbledon and clinched the deal a few days ago through his agent. “Bernard helped us out a couple of years ago on the final day and we were pleased to be able to showcase his talents to Kooyong fans at the time” Stubs said. “I had a close look at the way he played and was more than impressed. It’s great to be able to kick off our 2012 campaign by announcing the participation of Australia’s brightest prospect” he added.

Stubs is busy confirming the rest of his field and further announcements are expected soon.

LLEYTON HEWITT (AUST) is the current AAMI Classic champion, having defeated GAEL MONFILS (FRA) in the 2011 final.

This will be the 24^th year of the event, which began in 1988. Leading Australian car and home insurer, AAMI, enters its 8^th year of sponsorship, having recently signed on for the 2012 and 2013 events.

The Seven Network will provide approx. 13 hours of live national coverage over the 4 days while IEC in Sport will distribute footage to over 60 international outlets.

Corporate support for the event remains strong, with a high retention rate annually.

Tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster (13 6100).