Bernie Tomic In Meltdown Mode

Written by: Staff on 28th March 2014

Bernie Tomic In Meltdown Mode

epa04016144 Bernard Tomic of Australia attends a press conference ahead of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 12 January 2014. The tournament will take place in Melbourne from 13 to 26 January 2014. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY |

Concern has been mounting for the past few days about Bernard Tomic after the 21 year-old Australian, whose notoriety is already expansive in tennis circles, added another unwanted record by playing the shortest match in ATP World Tour history; a 28 minutes long embarrassment against Jarkko Nieminen at the Sony Open in Miami.

Tomic, who has been recuperating from double hip surgery carried out just after January’s Australian Open, misunderstood the ATP World Tour rules and believed the ‘mandatory’ status of the even meant he had to play even though he was far from match fit.

Those close to Tomic believe the brief outing at Crandon Park did the youngster more harm, both physically and mentally and his compatriot Pat Cash, a former Wimbledon champion who also suffered various physical and mental issues during his career, thinks the best therapy would be an extended break from the game and said: “I feel very sorry for the kid.”

Tomic is not scheduled to play again until the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters which begin on April 13. But Cash, who took several extended breaks before the sport before realizing it was his true passion said: “In my opinion, he doesn’t want to play tennis at all.

“The best thing for him to do would be to take a year off, or six months off, and try and get back and enjoy his tennis. It’s a really tough situation for him. I mean, I’ve sort of been in that situation where I really hated tennis and I didn’t want to play. So I didn’t. And then I found my interest again later on.’’

Cash, like many in Australian tennis is bemused why Tomic felt obligated to play in Miami when his recovery from surgery was far from complete. But like most he puts it down to the player being ill-informed by bad advice.

“For him to rush back is a strange move, but obviously there’s something more to it,’’ said Cash, who got to know both Tomic and his father John when they attended his tennis academy in Hope Island, Queensland a decade ago.

“I think what we’re all missing here is Bernard’s mental wellbeing; I think that’s the most important thing for this kid. That’s the thing that I’m actually quite concerned about, and I think that should be the No.1 priority of everybody. Right now I don’t think it is.”

Content via Bob Larson

Topics: Atp World Tour, Bernard Tomic, Jarkko Nieminen, Miami, Sony Open, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News