Bernard Tomic earned a rebuke from his Australian Davis Cup captain Patrick Rafter for not giving full effort during the recent US Open. Now the teenager has again admitted he did not try too hard in losing his opening match to Germany ’s Florian Mayer at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Tomic lost out 6-4,6-0 to Mayer and said: “Today I gave about 85%. I felt in the second set, my effort wasn’t even close to where it should be. Obviously, I made a mistake.”
The controversial 19 year-old is currently ranked world no.43 but has dropped considerably in the past few months from his career-high ranking 27 achieved just before Wimbledon in June. He blames his mental application.
“I think my lack of concentration costed me,” he said of his Shanghai demise. “I feel like my mental skills weren’t there, weren’t following me the way they should have been. There’s not a lot I could have done mentally in that second set. I feel that’s the biggest key to my tennis. That’s where I haven’t been good.”
Tomic insists is still the youngest player inside the world’s top 50 and he tries to make a case for immaturity and a feels premature run towards the top of the game is now costing him dearly.
“It’s very difficult,”said the German-born, Monte Carlo based Aussie. “I mean, growing up looking at this sport, never would I have expected to come in at such a young age. With tennis these days, I feel last year and this year I’ve achieved so much, being inside the top 30 at my age.
“The schedule that I planned this year is not the way I should have gone. I felt like that’s what cost me. I couldn’t concentrate all the tournaments. I was playing so many.”
Topics: Australian Davis Cup, Australian tennis news, Bernard Tomic, Shanghai Open, Shanghai tennis news