It started with John McEnroe’s accusations during television commentary that he had “tanked” during the latter stages of his second-round US Open loss to retiring former champion Andy Roddick.
It spread to a spiky press conference and some hostile responses to Australian reporter, Will Swanton, and then to Twitter, where he was praised for his “Tony Soprano” attitude.
The difference here is that the lead character from the famed American drama acted from a position of control, albeit fictional.
Bernard Tomic is just a pup on the first rungs of the tennis ladder but with a career threatening to nosedive unless he can quickly turn himself around.
He has not helped himself; the Queenslander irked world number one, Novak Djokovic, with his infamous “about 85 per cent” effort remark in his first-round loss to Florian Mayer at the Shanghai Masters.
It followed a shambolic display when losing in the first round at the Tokyo Open Championship, and, more recently, he crashed to a disastrous 6-0 6-2 loss to Mikhail Youzhny in Basel, Switzerland – again in the opening round.
“Someone needs to put Bernie Tomic on the Flying Kangaroo,” respected Australian coach, Darren Cahill, tweeted. “[His] year was done weeks ago. Charge up the batteries, get faster and stronger for 2013.”
Roger Rasheed, the former coach of Lleyton Hewitt and Gael Monfils, has been mentioned in tennis circles as a future coach of the mercurial talent.
Whoever is charged with the task of resuscitating Tomic’s career, it cannot come quickly enough but, primarily, the Australian Open 2008 Boy’s champion must convince himself he has what it takes to deliver on so much promise.
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