After successful Australian Open qualification: Bernard Tomic strikes against the media: "Don't be fair to me"
Bernard Tomic has successfully qualified for the Australian Open. In the interview after his third round victory, the Australian enfant terrible then also took off against the media landscape.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Jan 16, 2021, 09:44 pm
The visual comparison with a roller coaster ride describes the current athletic condition of the Australian Bernard Tomic quite aptly. While the 28-year-old stood out at the beginning of the year mainly because he managed to lose several matches in clearly an hour, the Stuttgart-born man is once again in the main field of a Grand Slam.
With three wafer-thin three-set successes made the world ranking 228. the jump into the main draw of the Australian Open. Even though he was in "pretty bad physical shape," as the Australian was supposed to explain to the Australian Associated Press. "I'm very tired, more tired than happy, to be honest. I've never been so tired and I've played a lot of tennis", was the very idiosyncratic statement of the Enfant Terribles after the tournament in Doha.
The trip there was already a risk for the Australian, as he emphasized. "I'm in Doha, I am risking my life by flying here, my health, Covid is here, many are sick, there are many things that can go wrong. I am risking my life and I am playing and competing", so Tomic when asked whether the fire is still burning in him. A question he didn't seem to really want to hear. "Otherwise I would hang up my rackets. I don't need to play tennis anymore, I have enough money - so why are you asking me this question? Don't ask such questions."
"Can't Escape the Fact"
Now, according to Tomic, a few more positive headlines would be appropriate, as he quite bluntly demanded: "You are the people who write the bad stuff about me. I have qualified for a Grand Slam - what do you want to write now?" In general, the media have been "not exactly fair" to him over the past five to ten years. "You can spin it however you want, but you can't escape the fact that I qualified for a Grand Slam."
Tomic was then again quite self-critical about his own playing abilities: "Do I have a chance of winning a Grand Slam now or next year? No. But do I have a chance of playing well in a Grand Slam? Yes" so the former world number 17. "It's very difficult to win a Grand Slam with the players who are currently at the start."