- Wildcard for Brisbane International this month unlikely
- Tomic’s current world ranking of 214 is his Achilles heel
- Will look to qualify for Australian Open in January
He was once ranked 17 in the world and made the quarter-finals of Wimbledon – but don’t expect to see fallen Aussie tennis star Bernard Tomic granted any favours from tournament organisers of the Brisbane International.
Tomic, 32, is reportedly training on the Gold Coast with the intention of playing in next month’s Australian Open qualifiers – and would have loved a wildcard to play in Brisbane.
The problem is his current world ranking of 214, which means Tomic will only feature in Brisbane if he first wins a series of qualifying matches.
The December 29-January 5 event will headlined by 24-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic – and tournament director Cam Pearson has virtually closed the door on Tomic gaining direct entry.
Three Aussie players will be handed wildcards to the 32-man main draw – and tellingly, 11 local stars outside the world’s top 55 have a better ATP ranking than Tomic.
‘Rankings will determine the field for the qualifiers and a couple of wildcards as well,’ Pearson said.
‘We haven’t made decisions on the wildcards, but I suspect it would be pretty tough to give one to him.’
Pearson has been impressed by Tomic’s career resurgence, after his world ranking dropped to 825 in 2022.
Remarkably, Tomic has competed in low-level events in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Kuwait, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Turkey, Brazil, Thailand, India, Colombia, Spain, United States and Canada in a bid to rebuild his ranking.
Retired Australian Davis Cup representative John Millman was full of praise for Tomic grafting all over the world.
‘I love it. What an effort for Bernie to get back,” Millman told Fairfax.
‘To go out there and go through the Futures and Challengers the way he has is huge. These are really unglamorous tournaments.
‘I think at times, he’s had to do it pretty tough – and he’s managed to come out the other side.’
In better news for home grown tennis fans, Nick Kyrgios is tipped to play in Brisbane following two injury-plagued years.
