Australian Open 2010: A First Look at Bernard Tomic

Bernard Tomic is the youngest Junior Champion's of the Australian Open

A Grand Slam is a great time to have a look at some of the young and upcoming players on the tour. Usually the winners of the respective Junior titles are usually given a wild card into the tournament. And that the land Down Under has a home grown Junior Champion at this slam would make the job much easier for Bernard Tomic to experience the grandeur of the Rod Laver Arena at a senior level. Even though he made a second round exit here, he has left his mark after battling with the No. 14 seed Marin Cilic for almost four hours and pushing him to five sets.

And this makes it inevitable to have a closer look at what this young boy promises to offer to the ATP in the coming years.

I first saw this 17 year old lad having some fun during the ‘Hits for Haiti’ exhibition matches organized by Roger Federer last Sunday. He was brought in as a replacement of Andy Roddick—much to the excitement of the national crowd—who had to leave midway during the event.

The first thing that caught my attention was his body language. A young, unknown, inexperienced chap standing alongside the established legends of the game in Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, and Roger Federer at the theatrical Rod Laver Arena is an intimidating sight in itself. Ask Samantha Stosur whose subdued behavior was a proof of her nervousness.

Yet this guy strolled confidently into the court chewing his gum and feeling comfortable in his sweat shirt—Serena even asked him to remove it, but he politely declined. His felt equally comfortable in exchanging friendly hits with these legends, even cracking up a couple of jokes along the way.

Back into his second major match against an established player in Marin Cilic, his demeanor was as calm as it can be.Whatever nervy jitters he might have been experiencing were effectively camouflaged to not surrender the initial advantage.

The German born Australian of Croatian descent is strong and tall towering at 6’4”. Being only 17, he can probably gain an inch and be as tall as del Potro when he is seriously into the senior circuit, a frame that will be essential, and not just beneficial, for success in the years to come.

While the initial signs were promising, the problems began after the first ball was hit on the court. When a great player starts his professional career at a young age, one can pull out something extraordinary from the rawness of the game. Be it Sampras’ serve, Agassi’s hard hitting, Federer’s smooth movement or Nadal’s heavy topspin, there was one standout factor that stood out in these players’ game right from their days in their Junior Circuit. A better example of a Junior player who evokes promise is Grigor Dimitrov who is often compared to Roger Federer.

That one unfurnished ‘raw’ factor seemed missing from Atomic’s (like the way he is called) game. His service motion looked very unorthodox to me and on a closer look, his ball toss was very low which heavily reduced the options he can have with his serve.

The forehand was looking very ordinary, devoid of any pace. Having missed this match before (the match featuring Henin and Dementieva finished at 4 in the morning), I was watching the replay of this match alongside the 2nd round match between Ivanovic and Dulko. I couldn’t help asking myself the same question from time to time—Is Ivanovic actually hitting harder than Tomic?

Another big factor towards players success is the comfort level with the on court movement and anticipation. Cilic’s movement is smooth, elegant and quick while Del Potro’s anticipation of the opponent’s next stroke is probably his most underrated weapon.

Movement is not something that you can build up over time. Not unless you employ Andy Roddick’s strenuous regimen that he has had over the years. With Tomic lacking on both fronts, it will be an uphill battle for him in the next two to three years.

The one stand out weapon in his game was his backhand slice. It had enough spin, it stayed close to the net, and dipped after hitting the surface. I could see Cilic bending his back time and again to retrieve his slices, and this was the main weapon that bothered the Croat. And of course, he has a stable head above his shoulders. Time and again, he played a courageous shot here, and a good winner there on crucial points.

But these are the factors that separate the Roger Federer from Marat Safin or Richard Gasquet. He needs to have more weapons if he needs to reach the level of Andy Murray or Lleyton Hewitt.

Overall, my first impression for Tomic was good, but not great. The ‘raw’ element was missing, and even though he stretched Cilic to five sets, it was more due to Cilic playing below his par, than due to the pressure put by Tomic.

I can very well see him a constant feature in the top 30, maybe even 20, players in the coming years, but he will have to work much harder to go further beyond that.