Bernard Tomic

4.1. Professional Debut and Early Career (2008-2009)

Tomic began competing in professional events at the age of 15. In 2008, he received a place in the qualifying draw of the 2008 Australian Open, where he defeated Wang Yeu-tzuoo in the first round after saving five match points, but lost in the next round. In August, he reached his first professional final at an F2 tournament in Indonesia, losing to Yūichi Sugita. Later that year, at an F12 tournament in Australia, he controversially walked off the court while trailing against Marinko Matosevic. Towards the end of 2008, Tomic decided to focus solely on senior tournaments, leading to a one-month suspension from professional tournaments by the ITF in March 2009.

In January 2009, Tomic received a wildcard into his first ATP Tour event, the 2009 Brisbane International, where he lost to Fernando Verdasco. He was also granted a wildcard into the 2009 Australian Open, where he defeated Potito Starace in the first round, becoming the youngest male tennis player to win a senior Australian Open Grand Slam tournament match. He lost in the second round to Gilles Müller. Tomic also competed in mixed doubles with Monika Wejnert, losing in the first round.

He received wildcards into Australian Challenger tournaments in February, reaching the quarterfinals in Burnie before winning his first Challenger title in Melbourne at the age of 16. Tomic then received a wildcard for the 2009 French Open, where he was defeated by Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round. Following this defeat, he returned to the junior tour for Grand Slam events, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon. He finished 2009 ranked world No. 286.

4.2. Major Achievements and Career Turning Points

Tomic's professional career saw several significant milestones. In 2011, as a qualifier, he reached his first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the youngest player since Boris Becker in 1986 to do so. This performance propelled him 87 places up the ATP rankings to world No. 71.

In 2013, Tomic won his maiden ATP title at the Sydney International, defeating Kevin Anderson in the final. He followed this with a second ATP title at the Colombian Open in July 2014, where he defeated defending champion Ivo Karlović. He successfully defended this title in 2015, winning the Colombian Open for his third career title. His consistent performances in 2015, including quarterfinal appearances at the Indian Wells Open and the Shanghai Masters (both ATP Masters 1000 events), helped him break into the top 20, achieving a career-high ranking of world No. 18 by the end of the year and No. 17 in January 2016.

In 2016, Tomic reached his first ATP 500 final at the Mexican Open in Acapulco, where he lost to Dominic Thiem. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 Western & Southern Open (a Masters 1000 event), defeating Kei Nishikori before losing to Andy Murray. His fourth ATP singles title came in 2018 at the Chengdu Open, where he saved four match points to defeat top seed Fabio Fognini in the final, marking his first tour victory in three years.

4.3. Career Ups and Downs

Tomic's career has been characterized by significant fluctuations in form and ranking, often linked to injuries and off-court issues. In 2ic014, after undergoing two hip surgeries, he returned to the tour at the Miami Open, where he suffered the shortest recorded professional tennis match loss in the Open Era, winning only one game against Jarkko Nieminen in 28 minutes. This period saw his ranking drop out of the top 100 for the first time since 2011.

His decline continued into 2017, marked by five consecutive first-round losses and a controversial exit from Wimbledon, where he was fined for admitting boredom and faking an injury. This led to his racquet sponsor, Head, dropping him. His ranking dipped outside the world's top 140, his worst since 2011.

In 2018, Tomic failed to qualify for the 2018 Australian Open, marking his first absence from the main draw since 2008. His ranking plummeted to world No. 243, his lowest since 2010. However, he showed signs of resurgence, reaching a Challenger final in France and qualifying for the 2018 French Open. He also made a surprise run to the semifinals of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, his first ATP Tour semifinal in over two years. He won the Rafa Nadal Open Banc Sabadell, his first Challenger title in eight years, before his Chengdu Open victory brought him back into the top 100 at world No. 76.

The momentum did not last. 2019 saw a severe downfall, with only two ATP quarterfinal appearances and a significant ranking drop from 83 to 185 by year-end, partly due to failing to defend points from his Chengdu title. In 2020, Tomic largely remained inactive after the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the tour. He returned in 2021, qualifying for the 2021 Australian Open and winning his first Grand Slam main-draw match in nearly three years, though he lost in the second round. His struggles continued into 2022, losing in the first round of Australian Open qualifying and later testing positive for COVID-19 after complaining about testing protocols. In 2023, he returned to the top 300 for the first time in two years, reaching a Challenger quarterfinal and winning an M15 Futures tournament in Las Vegas.

4.4. Grand Slam and Masters 1000 Performance

Bernard Tomic's performance at Grand Slam and ATP Masters 1000 tournaments throughout his career is summarized below:

Grand Slam performance timeline:

ATP Masters 1000 Performance:

4.5. ATP Tour Title Records

Bernard Tomic has won four ATP singles titles and reached one ATP doubles final in his professional career.

Singles: 6 finals (4 titles, 2 runners-up)

Doubles: 1 final (0 titles, 1 runner-up)

5.1. Davis Cup

Tomic made his Davis Cup debut for Australia in 2010 at 17 years and 135 days old, becoming the youngest player to represent the country. In his debut tie against Chinese Taipei, he won both of his singles matches. He was called back to the team in July 2011 for the tie against China, where he secured a crucial victory. In the Davis Cup World Group Playoffs in September 2011, he achieved a significant win over world No. 19 Stanislas Wawrinka but lost to his childhood idol Roger Federer.

In 2012, Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt committed to playing all Davis Cup ties to help Australia re-enter the World Group. Tomic secured two straight-sets victories against South Korea. However, Australia lost to Germany in the World Group Playoffs despite Tomic winning one of his rubbers.

Following poor off-court behavior in late 2012, Tomic was suspended from playing for Australia in the first round of the 2013 Davis Cup. After serving his ban, he returned to the team for the 2013 zonal semifinal against Uzbekistan and was instrumental in Australia's return to the World Group with an away playoff victory over Poland.

Injuries prevented Tomic from competing in the 2014 Davis Cup. He returned for Australia's first round of the 2015 Davis Cup against the Czech Republic, securing two crucial singles victories that led Australia to a 3-2 win, marking the first time Australia reached the second round of the Davis Cup World Group since 2006. He was again suspended from the Australian Davis Cup team for an outburst during a Wimbledon press conference. Tomic returned to the team for the 2015 semifinal against Great Britain, where he scored a vital four-set victory over Dan Evans. In the 2016 Davis Cup tie against the United States, he won his match against Jack Sock but lost the reverse singles to John Isner, resulting in Australia's first-round exit. Tomic's overall Davis Cup record stands at 17 wins and 4 losses.

5.2. Olympic Games

Tomic represented Australia at his first Olympic Games in London 2012. He competed in the singles competition, losing in the first round to Japan's 15th seed Kei Nishikori in two tight tiebreaks. He declined to participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics, citing a packed schedule.

5.3. Other Team Events

Tomic has also participated in other international team events:

• Hopman Cup:** He played in the 2013 Hopman Cup and 2014 Hopman Cup. In 2013, he notably defeated Tommy Haas, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, and Andreas Seppi.
• World Tennis Challenge:** In 2010, Tomic won the World Tennis Challenge for the Australasia team, winning all three of his singles matches against Gilles Simon, Radek Štěpánek, and Robby Ginepri.
• Fast 4 Tennis Showdown:** On January 9, 2017, Tomic defeated Dominic Thiem 3-4, 4-2, 4-3, 3-4, 5-3 to win the event.

8.1. Behavior and Attitude

Tomic has been involved in numerous instances of unsportsmanlike conduct and controversial statements. In 2009, at Wimbledon, his agent reportedly told Lleyton Hewitt's physiotherapist that Tomic would not practice with Hewitt because "Lleyton's not good enough." Similarly, in 2013, Tomic's father told qualifier Dan Evans that Tomic would not practice with him because Evans was "not good enough," a comment that resurfaced when Evans defeated Tomic the following year.

At the 2012 Miami Masters, Tomic was overheard asking the chair umpire to eject his own father from the stands, stating, "He's annoying. I know he's my father but he's annoying me." In 2015, following his loss to Novak Djokovic at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, Tomic launched a public rant against Tennis Australia and its officials, including Craig Tiley, Pat Rafter, and Steve Healy, alleging a lack of support and funding for himself and his sister. This outburst led to his suspension from Australia's Davis Cup team.

In 2016, during his first-round match at the Madrid Masters against Fabio Fognini, Tomic controversially turned his racquet around, holding it by the handle, while receiving serve on match point, a move widely interpreted as "tanking" or giving up. This incident, along with similar past allegations from the 2016 Sydney International and 2012 US Open, drew widespread criticism. Later that year, at the 2016 US Open, he verbally abused a spectator after being taunted during his first-round loss.

In a 2017 interview with Channel 7's Sunday Night program, Tomic controversially admitted that he "never loved tennis" and claimed to have built his career on "50% effort." After failing to qualify for the 2018 Australian Open, he dismissively told reporters, "I just count money, that's all I do. I count my millions," drawing sharp criticism from former players like Andy Roddick, who tweeted, "Maybe stop for a second and think of the millions you've left on the table."

In 2019, Tomic's first-round loss at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in just 58 minutes was deemed by the match referee as not meeting the "required professional standard." He was fined his entire prize money of 45.00 K GBP, an incident that revived his old nickname "Tomic the Tank Engine." Although other players, including Tsonga and Djokovic, disagreed with the severity of the fine, the tournament organizers upheld the decision.

In March 2020, during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tomic reportedly experienced symptoms after traveling to Miami and entered self-isolation. However, fellow player Andrea Petkovic later revealed that Tomic had admitted to her that he had lied about his health. In August 2024, Tomic was removed from the stands at the Santo Domingo Challenger final for heckling Andres Andrade, who had defeated him in the quarterfinals earlier that week.

8.2. Legal Issues and Fines

Tomic has had several encounters with law enforcement and has been subject to fines from tennis authorities. In January 2012, he was fined three times in one day by police on the Gold Coast and later engaged in a standoff with police, locking himself in his house. In November 2012, he pleaded guilty to failing to stop for police in his orange BMW M3, receiving a 750 AUD fine and a 12-month good-behavior bond. He also faced an additional 1.00 K AUD fine for three other traffic offenses committed in January.

In 2013, his father, John Tomic, was sentenced to eight months in prison and banned from the ATP World Tour for 12 months after headbutting and breaking the nose of Bernard's hitting partner, Thomas Drouet. However, under Spanish law, John Tomic did not serve the jail term as it was his first conviction and the sentence was less than two years.

In July 2015, Tomic was arrested in Miami and charged with resisting arrest and trespassing following a penthouse party. All charges against him were dropped in October of the same year. He was fined 15.00 K USD by Wimbledon in 2017 for his controversial comments and faking an injury. In 2019, he received a 45.00 K GBP fine at Wimbledon for not meeting professional standards during his first-round match.

In January 2025, it was revealed that Tomic had been investigated by NSW police strike force Whyman for suspected match fixing in connection with two matches taking place in late 2021 and early 2022. However, investigations by both the police and the International Tennis Integrity Agency were closed due to a lack of evidence.

8.3. Performance and Effort Criticisms

Tomic has frequently faced criticism for his perceived lack of effort and commitment on court, often leading to allegations of "tanking." His 2016 Madrid Masters incident, where he reversed his racquet on match point, became a prominent example of such criticism. His admission in a 2017 interview that he "never loved tennis" and only gave "50% effort" further fueled these criticisms, suggesting a lack of passion for the sport despite his talent. After his 2018 Australian Open qualifying loss, his comment about "counting millions" was widely seen as a dismissive attitude towards his performance and the sport itself. His 58-minute loss at 2019 Wimbledon, resulting in a fine, reinforced the "Tomic the Tank Engine" moniker, highlighting ongoing concerns about his commitment to playing at a professional standard. He was also accused of tanking during his first-round qualifying loss at the 2018 US Open.

8.4. Family-Related Controversies

The involvement of Tomic's father, John Tomic, in his career has been a recurring source of controversy. Beyond the 2012 Miami Masters incident where Bernard asked for his father's removal from the stands, John Tomic's legal issues, particularly his 2013 conviction for assaulting Bernard's hitting partner, Thomas Drouet, significantly impacted Bernard's professional environment. Bernard's 2015 Wimbledon press conference rant also included complaints about Tennis Australia's alleged lack of support and funding for both him and his sister, Sara, indicating ongoing family-related tensions within his professional life.