The 38th-ranked Bernard Tomic arrived at Australian Open 2012 having reached his first career tour semifinal at Brisbane where he surrendered to Andy Murray in straight sets. He then went on to win the Kooyong exhibition with impressive victories over Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils and Mardy Fish.
Here at the Australian Open, Tomic has now journeyed to his first fourth-round showing in four consecutive Australian Opens played. The form, confidence and determination the teenager has delivered at Melbourne Park has been noteworthy.
“I’ve improved from last year, but the crowd supported me so good and are making me play good tennis,” Tomic said. “I think that’s what you need in your home slam.”
There’s no doubt that Tomic can no longer walk down a street without being noticed.
“All of sudden you’re out there and people know who you were,” Tomic said. “It can be a tricky thing. I’m happy the way I’m playing in this sport and the way I’m growing up in this sport.”
His next test, however, will be a potent one. It will mark a second career meeting against the man he idolizes most in the sport: Roger Federer. The two played in September on grass during the Davis Cup playoff round in Sydney and Federer won the day in four sets.
“He was like my idol,” Tomic said of Federer. “To me, he’s the best player to play. I love watching Roger even on TV now and in the past, so it’s good to play him and get the opportunity to play him again.”
Tomic started his Australian Open by striking out former top tenner Fernando Verdasco in five sets, then he took care of Sam Querrey in four sets in the second round.
But where Tomic really made a statement was in an incredible 4-6, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 win over the 13th-seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, under the lights on Rod Laver Arena.
At just 19, Tomic doesn’t have much of a history with most players, but that’s not the case with Dolgopolov. The Ukrainian, who came to attention on his debut at the Australian Open last year when he reached the quarterfinals, had previously beaten Tomic in their three other meetings.
Friday night’s match was enthralling. The two play a similar brand of tennis, taking off pace and preventing the other from getting into a rhythm. They went back-and-forth between a backhand slice battle to a pounding groundstroke duel for three hours, 49 minutes. Initially, the crowd started with polite applause but by the time Tomic scored the third set tiebreaker -- his second straight tiebreaker won in the match -- fans were going crazy, repeatedly cheering “Let’s Go Bernie!’
“It’s like a mirror (and) playing yourself,” Tomic said of the similarity in his game to Dolgopolov’s. “The shots that are coming back the way that you give (it) to players. They’re coming back to you the same. It’s very difficult.”
Under normal circumstances, Dolgopolov might have had an Australian crowd in his corner by virtue of his coach, Jack Reader, being an Aussie. But against Tomic that Australian connection just wasn’t good enough.
“Tonight was a really good match and I needed to win tonight,” Tomic said. “I knew it was going to be tough tonight. I think the crowd helped me win so I thank you.”
Where Tomic shined early was in those two tie-breaks -- he’s now won 10 of 11 tie-breaks he’s played at the Australian Open. In the second set breaker he never allowed Dolgopolov to win a point. In the third set tie-break, the first six points were mini-breaks before Dolgopolov held serve to go up 5-3. But the Ukrainian couldn’t hold on to the lead and Tomic eventually moved two-sets-to-one ahead.
Despite a niggling back -- Dolgopolov had the trainer out for a massage twice -- he stuck with Tomic to even the score to two sets apiece. When the decisive fifth set got unde rway it was anybody’s guess as to who would come out on top. When Tomic broke Dolgopolov’s serve at 15-40 to go ahead 4-1 in the final set, fans had their answer as to who would face Federer..
Federer’s certainly an entirely different encounter for Tomic than who he played in the first three rounds. They weren’t a16-time Grand Slam champion, a four-time Australian Open champion, nor a former world No.1 currently ranked world No.3.
After Federer took care of Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-3, he discussed the possibility of facing Tomic: “Tomic obviously being young makes him still somewhat of a mystery, maybe just because he’s changing his game as he’s progressing along the way,” Federer said.
If Tomic can create the big upset against Federer he would reach his second career quarterfinal, having made his Grand Slam quarterfinal debut at Wimbledon last year. But the Australian is smart enough to know that it will take a lot of game -- and a lot of luck -- to orchestrate a winning outcome.
“In order to play him again is one of the biggest things,” Tomic said. “Now having played him before, I think I have an intense sense of what he can do and where he can hurt me, where he can’t. I got to go out there feeling good and have a go and try to win.”
It’s hard to imagine a teenage player ranked closer to 40 than No.1 having much of an advantage over a player of Federer’s stature. But Tomic knows he will carry the crowd, and he’ll hope that the crowd might carry him to a good performance at the very least.
