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2008-01-09 09:26:00
Could Bernard Tomic be the next big thing in tennis? At just 15 years and 2 months, Tomic got a Wild Card into the qualifying draw at the Australian Open, his first start in a professional tournament ever. And in what a way he seized the opportunity earlier today. The Gold Coast resident won a very hard fought match against former prodigy Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Chinese Taipei, ranked as high as 147 in the world. Wang was actually an Australian Open junior finalist already at 15, but similar to a lot of other Asian players, he has found it very difficult with the transition from juniors to the pro tour.
I watched Tomic at the US Open juniors and was amazed by the skills of a player two months short of his fifteenth birthday. I couldn’t spot any major weaknesses, as you usually can on young players on the rise. According to reports, his serve and forehand used to be weaknesses, but a lot of work on these areas has taken Tomic’ game to a new level. Tomic will now take on Prakash Amritraj, the son of former great Vijay Amritraj. The Indian 24-year old was given a lot of headlines a few years back, but has seen his game stagnate with a ranking in the 200’s. If Tomic successfully would qualify into the main draw, he would beat Lleyton Hewitt’s record. Hewitt managed the feat at an age of 15 years and 10 months back in 1997.
Looking at the current ATP rankings, Australian tennis is definitely struggling with only two players in the top 100. However, they have several promising players coming up and have had many good junior players during the past five years. Somehow, the great tennis nation of the past has found it very difficult to help these players make it on the pro circuit. At the moment, they have a quartet of very promising guys in their teens, with Tomic joined by 18-year olds Brydan Klein and Greg Jones as well as 19-year old Nick Lindahl. With that kind of talent, it will be very interesting to see where Australian tennis is five years from now.
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