Bernard Tomic: Once The Federers, Nadals, Djokovics Are Gone, I’ll Have A Chance To Dominate

Young Bernard has made a very intelligent statement!! I agree with him 100%. He realizes he will have to wait his turn.

November 19th, 2013 at 11:33 am

Where’s Tonya Harding’s ex when you need him? Why should Tomic wait for the Rafa, Novak and Fed to retire. A good club to the knee (Rafa…don’t flinch) should help his ranking.

I find Tomic’s comments strange. Don’t you want to try everything in your power to knock the top guys off their perch? “I’ll dominate when all the dominant players have retired”. To quote JMac, “You cannot be serious!”

November 19th, 2013 at 12:29 pm

Because this thread discusses head to heads and some stats, I’ll post this here.

Strange that Tomic should have this mentality? You would think that he would enjoy the challenge and work really hard to become “one of the federers or nadals or djokovics”. He is playing in the era of prime time and could be remembered for doing some damage or even win against them!

Come on Bernard! Change the mindset!

November 19th, 2013 at 12:37 pm

On the brightside, at least Tomic is ready to work hard.

But something tells me he’s not alone in feeling like he needs to wait for the big 3 to retire.

November 19th, 2013 at 1:08 pm

that is not a good statement…. infers that he doesn’t have the chops now to beat the top guys….how will that bode well in 4-5 years if the ‘new guys’ have just as good a game as novak, roger, rafa but tomic’s game is still the same?

strange comment.

November 19th, 2013 at 2:42 pm

He continues to talk out of the side of his neck. He needs to hit the courts and practice practice practice like his competiton. That’s how you get to carnegie hall, not by waiting for your opponents to retire. He still has to get thru Del Potro, Tsonga and Ferrer. What the hell is he talking about.

November 19th, 2013 at 3:27 pm

Personally I think Bernard Tomic has an over-inflated ego.I recall him saying he should be in the Finals of Slams when clearly that is not likely anytime soon if at all. He lacks the work ethic of the top 10 and they all know his game which means wins are going to be hard to get. If Tomic is going to wait for the top players to retire then he’d be as well putting his feet up for 5 years. Definately the wrong attitude.

November 19th, 2013 at 4:53 pm

Someone needs to sew Tommy’s mouth. Not that it has not been said before. He should eating crow, not talking about goats.

November 19th, 2013 at 5:04 pm

@HR:

Don’t be too harsh toward him: he showed respect.

November 19th, 2013 at 5:09 pm

Then why isn’t he in the top 10?

November 19th, 2013 at 5:13 pm

“He still has to get thru Del Potro, Tsonga and Ferrer. What the hell is he talking about.”

Very true. He is ranked 51 now. He needs to get through 50 other guys to get to No.1.

November 19th, 2013 at 5:17 pm

Weak man mentality.
There is saying in Serbia and it goes like this : “It is better to be first in the village than to be second in the city.”

November 19th, 2013 at 5:32 pm

So long as he keeps pushing the ball around instead of hitting it, he’ll stay above 50.

November 19th, 2013 at 6:40 pm

Tomic sucks but he’s right that as his “generation” continues to improve they’ll eventually end up in the top 10. It is the order of things. Raonic is already there, but he’s much better, at least when his serve is fierce.

November 19th, 2013 at 10:37 pm

But he or they are not like the Sampras Federer Nadal Djokovic that we already have seen the potentials even at younger age. Sampeas headlines “A Star is Born” in 1990 at 19. Federer beat Sampras at 19 and become a star at 21. Nadal at also 19, Novak at 21.

November 19th, 2013 at 11:58 pm

if you can’t even win more than 15% return games you will never be a top 10 staple let alone ”dominate”

raonic at least has the best serve in the game and even yet his return incompetence will probably stop him from being as successful as people think.

but tomic does not have an overpowering serve and his return is truly garbage, meaning the numbers just can’t add up. and these numbers rarely change massively from his age on.

to put this into perspective, berdych and delpo, both the same height were winning return games around mid 20% by tomic’s age and had better serves. and some years berdych and delpo get up in the high 20s.
that’s what it takes.
the worst top ten returner is probably tsonga and he still returns in the 20% range and has a huge serve to compensate.

you either need to be a 30%+ return-games-won returner with an average serve (ferrer,davydenko,simon etc) or a huge server with a 20%+ return-games-won (roddick,tsonga) or a big server with a mid-20s return game (berdych,delpo,wawrinka) to be a TOP PLAYER.

the very best have very high service games won and 30%+ return games, or like federer, big service with near 30% returns won.

tomic is so far off that it’s not funny. and it’s not because he keeps running into ”the big 4” every week, destroying his stats.

as well as having a mediocre serve for his height and a terrible return game, tomic is slow, poor on clay and has a history of ”work ethic” issues.

and in 4 years when tomic is ”dominating”, delpo,cilic will still be under 30, way better players. other young players better than him now, nishikori,paire will be late 20s. even gulbis seems a way better prospect at that point since he throws up better numbers than tomic.

every early-mid 20s player would literally have to stop improving as of now and tomic would have to almost double his return games won percentage (unheard of) for him to ever dominate this game.

November 20th, 2013 at 12:33 am

Lazy kid

November 20th, 2013 at 3:21 am

It’s all his dad’s fault.

November 20th, 2013 at 3:50 am

It all takes time and these things dont happen over night,its a case of putting in the hard work and application,it was an honest asessment i suppose if a little strange,as it sugests to me he lacks confidence against the top players,and the last thing you should do is show that as you,ve lost the mental battle as soon as you walk on court,if you take the likes of JJ,Dimitrov,Raonic,Nishikori who let their rackets do the talking win or lose.

November 20th, 2013 at 7:39 am

I still feel Tomic is counting more on his talent than on hard work. He should start by establishing himself into the Top 20. There is no need to wait for Fed, Rafa, Djoker to retire. There are lots of players ranked before him. He should start beating those for starters. And not just once, reguarly.He might not get into the Top 10 if the top guys are gone either with his attitude.

November 20th, 2013 at 9:49 am

Tennis X Hippy Chic Says:

“the last thing you should do is show that as you,ve lost the mental battle as soon as you walk on court”

———————

Precisely.

November 20th, 2013 at 12:38 pm

It’s OK to show respect. But not too much.

November 20th, 2013 at 12:39 pm

This generation is already a washout. Raonic alone might pick up a Slam as the older ones slow down, but no way Tomic is going from 50 to top 5.
In tennis the young have NEVER waited for the old. They eat them. Lendl and Mac went to war against Borg and Connors. Edberg and Becker went for Lendl. Sampras and Agassi went at them… and then Sampras got his ass handed to him by Safin, Hewitt and the New Balls Generation.
Hungrier toothier youngsters will emerge, they always do.

November 20th, 2013 at 12:42 pm

Yeah sure, many of the top guys emerged as crazy kid superstars, but this isn’t the WTA, either. What about the other side of the story — what about the Soderlings, the Ferrers? Or even the Tsongas, the Berdychs, even the Gasquets? Everyone who maybe displayed flashes of greatness early but never really became consistent until later? Those guys had their best seasons in their mid-to-late 20s (or after, Ferrer!). So, yes, Tomic isn’t going to magically shoot to top 5 — personally I think he sucks and have never understood why anyone tapped him a future top 10 player, but whatever, other people have a deeper understanding of tennis than I do — but it is not the case that there is only one path to the top of the tennis heap.

November 20th, 2013 at 2:37 pm

Tennis Vagabond,
A very good point. But we should also consider that in no other period the youngsters had to overcome the best two players to ever play the game. If Nole wins another 5 slams (which is not impossible) he might get into the top 5 all time. Next gen is unlucky unlike Federer in 2003.

November 20th, 2013 at 4:07 pm

Slice, definitely true that its a tough era, but Macenroe and Lendl came up chasing Borg and Connors. Not that different, and they sure never said they’d wait their turn.
Do we really believe that Raonic, Dmitrov, Nishikori or Tomic will EVER be on anyone’s top ten or even top 20 all time list? Maybe DelPotro. Better players will come along.

November 21st, 2013 at 10:07 am

maybe he’s just not good enough…and top 20 should be his goal. Same for Harrison, and most of the up and comers…

Great new players will rise in the interim.

November 22nd, 2013 at 5:19 pm

If retirement of the top players is what it takes for the next generation to take their place, then it means the next generation are a step down in quality compared to this generation.

If they were as good as the current top players, they should be able to beat them to get there, not wait for them to retire and take their place by default.

I’m disappointed for the future of tennis.

November 23rd, 2013 at 8:50 am

Better dominates them in their last games. It’s a shame to be a losers even to a retirees.

November 24th, 2013 at 4:19 am

Bernie Tomic is getting ready for AO:

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/tennis-star-bernard-tomic-enjoys-a-game-of-doubles-at-schoolies-week-nightclub-party/story-fni0cx12-1226765577663

November 25th, 2013 at 12:02 am

Poor Bernie,

does he really think that things will be easier once the Federers, etc. are retired? What about the hungry teenagers behind him, just chomping at the bit to knock him off his perch?

Tennis isn’t turnstile where you can go in once someone leaves the building. things keep changing all the time and that change is never as neat and straightforward as Mr. Tomic thinks.

He’s in for a rude awakening.
PK

November 25th, 2013 at 4:34 pm

He should wake up and see his true measure, and also get rid of his father as coach if he wants to have the slightest chance to end up in the top thirty.

December 2nd, 2013 at 12:39 am