Bernard Tomic

Bernard Tomic, Croatian: Bernard Tomić; born 21 October 1992 is an Australian professional tennis player. As of 24 October 2011, Tomic is the highest ranked Australian male tennis player and the youngest player in the top 219. The highlight of Tomic's career thus far has been a quarterfinal appearance at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, which included a straight sets third round victory over the world Number 5 ranked player, Robin Söderling, before losing in four sets to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

In Melbourne, Tomic matched his two prior Open performances when he defeated Jérémy Chardy 6–3, 6–2, 7–6 in the first round. He then recorded back-to-back main draw wins for the first time in his career when he defeated the 31st seed Feliciano López 7–6, 7–6, 6–3. In a much anticipated night match, Tomic lost to World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the 3rd round 2–6, 5–7, 3–6, 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 6–7, 7–6, 6–4 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 4–6, 4–6. Tomic was granted a main draw wild card for the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, losing in the first round to Pablo Andujar.
At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Tomic upset the 28th seeded Nikolay Davydenko 7–5, 6–3, 7–5 in the first round. In the second round, he came back from two sets to love down to beat another Russian, Igor Andreev 4–6, 5–7, 6–3, 6–4, 6–1. He then caused the upset of the tournament by stunning 5th seeded and two-time Grand Slam finalist Robin Söderling. He defeated the Swede 6–1, 6–4, 7–5 to advance to the fourth round. Tomic defeated Xavier Malisse in three sets 6–1, 7–5, 6–4 to advance to the quarter finals, becoming the youngest player since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the quarter finals at Wimbledon.[19] Tomic was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion, Novak Djokovic 6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 7–5. With this showing, Tomic moved 87 places up in the ATP rankings, to number 71 in the world.
Tomic won his first round match against Lu Yen-hsun 7–6, 6–3 at the Rogers Cup before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–3, 7–6 in the second round.
Tomic earned direct entry into the US Open, and in the first round defeated Michael Yani 6–3, 6–4, 6–4. He lost in the second round 6–1, 6–0, 6–2 to Marin Cilic.
Tomic then returned home to Australia to compete in the 2011 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs against Switzerland. He defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3 in the opening match at Royal Sydney Golf Club, but lost his second match, to World No. 3 Roger Federer 2–6, 5–7, 6–3, 3–6.
Tomic then competed at the 2011 Proton Malaysian Open but lost 2–6, 2–6 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, 7–6, 7–6 in the first round and defeated Japanese wildcard Tatsuma Ito in the second round 6–7, 6–1, 7–5 before losing to fourth seed Mardy Fish 7–6, 4–6, 1–6 in the quarterfinals. Tomic achieved a new career high singles ranking of World No. 49.
Tomic then competed at the 2011 If Stockholm Open. He defeated qualifier, Jürgen Zopp 7–6, 4–6, 6–0 in the first round but lost to Gael Monfils in the second round 4–6, 7–6, 4–6.


In September 2011 at the Davis Cup World Group Playoffs Tomic pulled off the biggest scalp of his Davis Cup career to date by defeating the then 19th ranked Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets. Tomic was then given the chance to play his childhood hero in the reverse singles rubber. He was able to take a set off the then world ranked number 3 and 16 time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer but eventually lost the match in four sets and in doing so incurred the first loss of his Davis Cup career. Prior to the commencement of the 2012 ATP season Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt both committed to the Davis Cup team for all ties in a bid to re-enter the world group. In the second rubber of the first zonal tie against China, Tomic was victorious against Wu Di 6–4, 7–6, 6–3.


We turned up and saw the Tomics around and we thought 'oh, maybe they got our message, and they were there to hit with Lleyton'. So Ivan (Gutierrez, Hewitt's physio) went over to Bernard's trainer at the time, Rudy (Sopko) and said 'Is Bernard here to hit?'. Rudy knew nothing of it but said 'Look, Bernard's looking for a practice partner and I think Bernard would like to do it', but then the agent came in and said, 'No, he's not hitting with Lleyton, Lleyton's not good enough'. They were his words: 'Lleyton's not good enough' and we just about dropped on the spot. We were pretty dumbfounded. Lleyton just could not believe it, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got about it."
Tomic's team cited Hewitt's different playing style as the reason for turning down the practice offer. He was later seen requesting for a practice hit with former World Number 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, but was subsequently turned down. A few weeks later Tomic revealed that he was forced to turn away the opportunity due to his own infection with swine flu. He further denied any approach to Ferrero as an alternative hitting partner, despite the Spanish tennis player's claim.
In January 2010 The Australian newspaper reported that Tomic's father had threatened to quit Australia and have him play for Croatia. According to the paper, this threat was made during a heated argument between Tomic's father and the Australian Open Tournament Director, Craig Tiley, after Tomic's loss to Marin Čilić.


Tomic was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on 21 October 1992. Tomic's parents, John (Ivica) and Ady (Adisa), left Croatia, then a part of Yugoslavia,several years before his birth. In an interview, Tomic stated that his parents "have a Croatian background".Other sources, such The Australian and The Guardian, have written that Tomic's parents are also of Bosnian heritage.They were both working in Germany when Tomic was born. The family migrated to Queensland, Australia when Tomic was three years old. His younger sister, Sara, is a junior tennis player.