Future Winners Friday

New Feature!

Bernard Tomic

Given he is the new Australian hopeful and his recent success in the Australian Open I thought I would start with Bernarc Tomic.

Professional Life

He has gone from strength to strength recently and risen to 37 in the rankings and is currently ranked 38, at 19 he is the youngest player in the top 100. In 2004 and 2006 Tomic won the 12s and 14s Orange Bowl titles – one of the most prestigious events on the junior tour, his boys singles Grand Slam wins came in 2008 at the Australian Open and in 2009 at the US Open.

Since his junior days Tomic has had mixed success in Grand Slams on the men tours:

Australian Open - 4th Round (2012)

French Open - 1st Round (2009, 2011)

Wimbledon - Quarter Final (2011 - best Grand Slam result, lost to eventual champion Djokovic)

US Open- 2nd Round (2011)

So far he has won 2 challengers

Personal Life

Tomic was born in Stuttgart, Germany his parents left Croatia a few years before his birth. He relocated to Queensland at three years old, he has a younger sister who is also a tennis player, Sara. He began dating model Donay Meijer a 21-year-old student studying for a pharmaceutical degree, 6 months ago. She has received a lot of attention throughout this years Australian Open.

Controversy With Lleyton Hewitt

In September 2009, reports began to surface about Tomic's team rejecting an invitational practice session with Lleyton Hewitt during the middle Sunday of Wimbledon. Hewitt's manager David Drysdale stated:

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."

Bernard Tomic's team claimed Hewitt's different playing style was 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.

So what are your thoughts on Bernard Tomic - a future Grand Slam winner? He is certainly gaining fans fast in Australia and it seems the only way he's looking us up!