Confident Tomic ready to assert himself
With his confidence sky high after a dream Hopman Cup campaign, Bernard Tomic is confident he can break into the top 10 by the end of this year.
Perth, Australia, 4 January 2013 | AAP
With his confidence sky high following a dream Hopman Cup campaign, Australian star Bernard Tomic is confident he can break into the top 10 by the end of this year.
Tomic was impressive in singles wins over Italian world No.23 Andreas Seppi and German world No.21 Tommy Haas in Perth.
But it was Tomic’s 6-4 6-4 triumph over world No.1 Novak Djokovic that stood head and shoulders above the rest, with the 20-year-old’s accurate serving, willingness to hustle and blistering ground strokes powering him to one of his finest ever victories.
Tomic ended 2012 ranked 52nd in the world after making first-round exits at his final three tournaments of the year.
But after embarking on a gruelling eight-week fitness campaign and working on the mental side of his game, Tomic has emerged a far more complete player.
Tomic first announced himself on the world stage when, at just 18 years of age, he reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2011.
Now, he’s desperate to crack into the world’s top 10.
“The training has all paid off,” said Tomic, who will compete at the January 6-12 Apia International Sydney before attempting to replicate his Wimbledon heroics at the Australian Open.
“It’s going to be a long road to get to the top 10. But if I play like this I can get there, and I believe I can and that’s the important thing.
“My confidence right now is at the top of the roof and I’m going to take it into the next tournament and the Australian Open and hopefully from there we can see what happens.”
Tomic said the improvements he’s made to his serve during the off-season had also fuelled his belief of matching it with the world’s best.
“I mean I’ve probably hit a billion serves over the last two months,” he said with a laugh.
“I was just trying to find the timing and the spots I wasn’t hitting last year.
“Playing Novak the other night and serving really well – there wasn’t much he could do and I’m really confident my serve is working well and it allows me to play really good tennis.”