Bernard Tomic

Bernard Tomic (; hr, Bernard Tomić, ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player whose career-high ranking was world No. 17. As a junior, Tomic enjoyed a successful career in which he won an Orange Bowl title and two junior Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Australian Open and 2009 US Open. As a pro, he has won the 2013 Apia International Sydney, 2014 Claro Open Colombia, 2015 Claro Open Colombia and the 2018 Chengdu Open. He made a final appearance at the 2016 Acapulco Telcel and a quarterfinal appearance at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, as well as at the 2015 BNP Paribas Open, the 2015 Shanghai Masters, and the 2016 Western & Southern Open.

In January 2018, Tomic was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the fourth season of the Australian version of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. On 30 January 2018, Tomic withdrew from the competition after three days, owing to feeling uncomfortable and depressed.

Throughout his career, Tomic has been known for his controversial behaviour, including legal issues, altercations with officials and fans, and accusations of tanking during events.

Personal life

Tomic was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on 21 October 1992. Tomic's parents, Croatian father, John (Ivica) and Bosnian mother, Adisa, left Socialist Yugoslavia several years before his birth. In an interview, Tomic stated that his parents "have a Croatian background". They were both working in Germany when Tomic was born. The family migrated to Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia in 1996 when Tomic was three years old. His younger sister Sara is also a professional tennis player. Tomic was educated at Southport State School during his primary school years before taking up a sports scholarship at The Southport School for high school.
In 2018 he became vegan.

Junior career

Before Tomic began competing on the ITF junior tour he stated that he would become the number 1 tennis player in the world, win all the Grand Slams and become Australia's youngest Davis Cup player. He also claimed he would achieve these goals by attaining the serve of Goran Ivanišević, the mind of Pete Sampras, the groundstrokes of Roger Federer and the heart of Lleyton Hewitt. In 2004, 2006 and 2007 respectively, Tomic won the 12s, 14s and 16s Orange Bowl titles – one of the most prestigious events on the junior tour.

Playing his first singles event on the ITF junior tour in 2006, he qualified for the Sunsmart 18 and Under Canterbury Championships in New Zealand and went on to win the title at 13 years of age, defeating Dae-Soung Oh of Korea in the final. His success continued in the following weeks, winning the next three tournaments he played in, giving him a 25 match winning streak. He was able to extend this streak to 26 at the Riad 21 junior tournament in Morocco before falling in the round of 16 to future junior world number 1 and ATP top 50 player Ričardas Berankis.

Tomic gained direct acceptance into his first junior Grand Slam at the 2007 Australian Open junior boys tournament at 14 years of age, the youngest player to ever gain direct entry. He came out victorious in round 1 against the sixth seed José-Roberto Velasco. In the second round he was defeated by Kevin Botti 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. In attendance for the match were Australian tennis greats Tony Roche, John Newcombe and Pat Rafter. In his second junior Grand Slam tournament at the 2007 French Open he made his way through qualifying to reach the main draw where he triumphed in the first round. In the second round he would lose to Ričardas Berankis 6–2, 6–3.

Tomic did not play in another tournament until August 2007, where he won the Oceania Closed Junior Championships without dropping a set. He was unable to continue his dominance at the Junior US Open, falling in the Round of 16 to future top 15 ATP player Jerzy Janowicz. Following the US Open, Tomic picked up a second title in 2007 by winning the G1 in Kentucky. He would then travel to Italy where he compiled an undefeated record in the Junior Davis Cup and lead Australia to victory in the final against Argentina with teammates Mark Verryth and Alex Sanders. Tomic finished 2007 with a junior world ranking of 23.

Tomic began 2008 by winning Nottinghill, an Australian ITF Junior event in Melbourne without dropping a set. Two days later he started his campaign for the Australian Open Juniors title as the 5th seed. He went on to win the event, defeating the 25th, 11th, 8th and 1st seed before beating 10th seed Tsung-Hua Yang of Taiwan in the final. His win at the age of 15 made him the youngest winner of the Australian Open Junior Boys' Championships in the Open Era.

Four months later, at Roland Garros, Tomic, the number one seed, fell in the quarter finals to Guido Pella of Argentina, losing in two sets. At Wimbledon, Tomic was again the number one seed, but fell in the semi-finals to Henri Kontinen. In a notable quarter final match, he played another rising star, Henrique Cunha of Brazil, and came through victorious in three sets. He also finished runner-up in the Wimbledon Junior Boys' doubles with fellow Australian junior Matt Reid. At the 2008 US Open, Tomic lost in the first round of the boys' singles to qualifier Devin Britton of the United States in three sets, who would go on to lose in the final.

Tomic returned to junior competition at the 2009 French Open where he reached the Round of 16 in the boys' singles tournament and a month later once again reached the semi finals at Wimbledon. At the 2009 US Open, however, Tomic won the junior grand slam title, defeating Chase Buchanan of the United States. The 2009 US Open was his last junior tournament. Despite winning two junior grand slams Tomic's highest junior ranking was number 2 in the world.

Junior Grand Slam results - Singles:

Australian Open: W (2008)

French Open: QF (2008)

Wimbledon: SF (2008, 2009)

US Open: W ( 2009)

ITF Junior finals (11)

Singles: 9 (9 titles)

Doubles: 2 (2 runners-up)

Professional career

2008–2009

At the age of 15 Tomic began competing in professional events. Tomic began 2008 at the Australian Open where he was given a place in the qualifying draw. He defeated Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Chinese Taipei in the first round in three sets after saving five match points but lost to Prakash Amritraj in the next round.

In August, Tomic reached the first professional final of his career at an F2 tournament in Indonesia. He defeated Kittipong Wachiramanowong, Hsien-Yin Peng, Peerakiat Siriluethaiwattana and Kento Takeuchi en route to the final without dropping a set before losing to Yūichi Sugita in three sets. In December, Tomic competed at a F12 tournament in Australia where he defeated fellow Australian James O'Brien in the first round before controversially walking off court whilst down a set and 3–1 against Marinko Matosevic in his next match. Towards the end of 2008, Tomic stated that he would no longer compete in junior tournaments and instead focus solely on senior tournaments. In March 2009, the ITF suspended Tomic from playing ITF professional tournaments for a month.

In January 2009, Tomic was granted a wildcard into his first ATP event, the Brisbane International, where he lost to Fernando Verdasco in the first round. He was also granted a wildcard into the 2009 Australian Open, drawing Potito Starace in the first round. He won the match after saving two set points in the fourth set tiebreak and thus became the youngest ever male tennis player to win a senior Australian Open Grand Slam tournament match. In the second round he lost to Gilles Müller in four sets. Tomic also contested the mixed doubles event with fellow 16-year-old Australian Monika Wejnert but the pair lost to the Canadian pairing of Aleksandra Wozniak and Daniel Nestor in the first round.

Tomic received wildcards into Australian Challenger tournaments in Burnie and Melbourne held in February. He reached the quarter-finals in Burnie before winning his first Challenger title in Melbourne at the age of 16. He later received a wildcard into the 2009 French Open but was easily beaten by Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round.

Following the defeat, Tomic decided to return to the junior tour to contest the Grand Slam tournaments and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open Junior tournament. At Wimbledon, Tomic lost in the final round of qualifying to Édouard Roger-Vasselin. He contested the junior tournament and reached the semi-finals before being losing to the eventual champion, Andrey Kuznetsov. In September, Tomic won the 2009 US Open Junior singles title by defeating Chase Buchanan in the final. In December 2009, Tomic lost in the final of the Australian open wildcard playoff to Nick Lindahl. He finished the year as the World No. 286.

2010

Tomic began the 2010 season by competing in the 2010 Brisbane International where he lost in the first round to qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov. He won the World Tennis Challenge for the Australasia team, defeating Gilles Simon of team Europe, Radek Štěpánek of the Internationals team and Robby Ginepri of the Americas team. At 2010 Kooyong Classic Tomic defeated World No. 3 Novak Djokovic in three sets (6–4, 3–6, 7–5). Despite losing in the wildcard playoff, Tomic was granted a main draw wildcard for the 2010 Australian Open. At the Australian Open, Tomic defeated Guillaume Rufin in the first round in straight sets before losing to fourteenth seed Marin Čilić in the second round in five sets.

In February, Tomic qualified for the Burnie Challenger tournament in Tasmania and went on to win the event by defeating Greg Jones in the final. In March, Tomic was selected to play singles for the Australian Davis Cup Team. He won both of his matches in the tie against Chinese Taipei, defeating Yang Tsung-hua and Lee Hsin-han. He then competed at the 2010 Tennis Napoli Cup as a wildcard but lost to Paolo Lorenzi in the first round in straight sets. Tomic's next tournament was the 2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters where he lost in the first round to the unseeded German Benjamin Becker. He then received a wildcard to compete in the 2010 Zagreb Open but lost to Michael Yani in the first round.

Tomic was awarded a wildcard for the 2010 Aegon Championships where he upset fifteenth seed Andreas Seppi in the first round before losing to Belgian Xavier Malisse in the second round. At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Tomic qualified for the main draw but lost in the first round to Mardy Fish. He then entered the qualifying draw of the 2010 US Open but lost in the second round to Noam Okun. His final ATP event of the year was the 2010 Proton Malaysian Open where he competed as a wildcard. He lost to David Ferrer in the first round. In December 2010, Tomic withdrew from the Australian Open wild card playoffs. He finished the year at a career high singles ranking of world No. 208.

2011: Grand Slam quarterfinal

Tomic began his 2011 season at the Brisbane International where he was given a main draw wild card but lost to Florian Mayer in the first round. At the Medibank International in Sydney, Tomic lost to Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round despite taking the first set. His performance in Sydney earned him the final discretionary wildcard into the main draw of the 2011 Australian Open.

In Melbourne, Tomic matched his two prior Open performances when he defeated Jérémy Chardy in the first round. He then recorded back-to-back main draw wins for the first time in his career when he defeated the thirty-first seed Feliciano López. In a much anticipated night match, Tomic lost to world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the third round despite having led 4–0 in the second set.

In February, Tomic competed in the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where he was given a main draw wild card. In the first round, Tomic defeated Indian qualifier Rohan Bopanna in three sets to reach the second round of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the first time. He faced sixteenth seeded Serbian, Viktor Troicki in the second round where he lost in straight sets. Tomic was granted a main draw wild card for the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami but lost in the first round to Pablo Andújar. At the French Open he lost in the first round to Carlos Berlocq, in straight sets.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships as a qualifier, Tomic defeated twenty-eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, fifth seed Robin Söderling and Xavier Malisse to reach his first grand slam singles quarterfinal, thus becoming the youngest player since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. There, he lost to the eventual champion Novak Djokovic in four sets. With this showing, Tomic moved 87 places up in the ATP rankings, to number 71 in the world.

At the Rogers Cup, Tomic won his first round match against Lu Yen-hsun before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. He earned direct entry into the US Open, and defeated Michael Yani before losing to Marin Čilić in the second round.

Tomic then returned home to Australia to compete in the 2011 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs against Switzerland. He defeated Stanislas Wawrinka in the opening match but lost his second match to world No. 3 Roger Federer. Tomic then competed at the 2011 Proton Malaysian Open but lost in the first round to Flavio Cipolla. Tomic's next event was the 2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. He upset the fifth seed, Victor Troicki in straight sets in the first round and defeated Japanese wildcard Tatsuma Ito in the second round before losing to fourth seed Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. Tomic achieved a new career high singles ranking of world No. 49 following the event. Tomic then entered the Shanghai Masters where despite being unseeded, he reached the third round. Tomic defeated Kevin Anderson and 5th seed Mardy Fish before losing to Alexandr Dolgopolov.
He then competed at the 2011 If Stockholm Open. He defeated qualifier, Jürgen Zopp in the first round but lost to Gaël Monfils in the second round. Tomic finished the year ranked world No. 42.

2012: First ATP semi-final

Tomic began his 2012 season at the Brisbane International. He defeated Julien Benneteau, Japanese qualifier Tatsuma Ito and Denis Istomin to reach his first ATP semi-final where he lost in straight sets to world No. 4 and eventual champion, Andy Murray. He then won the 2012 Kooyong Classic, defeating Tomáš Berdych, Gaël Monfils and Mardy Fish in the final.

In the first round of the 2012 Australian Open, Tomic rallied from two sets to love down to defeat Fernando Verdasco in 4 hours and 11 minutes. He defeated Sam Querrey and Alexandr Dolgopolov in the next two rounds to reach the fourth round for the first time where he lost to world No. 3 Roger Federer in straight sets.

Tomic was seeded eighth at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, but lost to Ivan Dodig in the first round, despite having two match points. At the 2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Tomic was seeded eighth. He reached the quarterfinals but lost to the top seed John Isner. In his next event the BNP Paribas Open, Tomic suffered a first round loss to Gilles Müller. At the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open Tomic defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky before losing to world No. 5 David Ferrer in the second round.

Tomic began his clay court season at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he advanced to the second round of a clay court event for the first time, defeating Denis Istomin in straight sets before losing to Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets. At the Barcelona Open