3 minute read
Bernard Tomic believes qualifying for the Australian Open the hard way will work to his advantage when he lands in Melbourne for an 11th tilt at his home slam.
Not done yet, a resurgent Bernard Tomic plans on silencing the doubters again with another stirring Australian Open run.
Despite slumping to 228th in the rankings and sitting out the bulk of the 2020 season due to the pandemic, the one-time world No.17 was the only one of 20 Australian hopefuls to qualify for the 2021 Open.
Tomic confessed to being utterly exhausted after his three gruelling three-set triumphs in Doha, but believes having three weeks before the start of the rescheduled grand slam, rather than the usual two days, will work to his advantage in Melbourne.
"I've got a little bit of time now to work on my game, my recovery, which I'm going to need to do because when you get down there, it's best-of-five sets. It's a different game," he told AAP.
Asked if he was physically ready to win a five-setter at Melbourne Park, as he's done twice before, Tomic said: "I've got a couple in me, for sure".
"Now that I have a couple of weeks off. If it was tomorrow or the next day, no chance.
"You need to build. You need a lot of long matches to get your legs, to get your fitness up.
"I didn't touch a racquet for like six months. I think I touched it once so I was not ready to play yet, for sure, until I started a month, two months ago. So I'm dead after three sets."
The 28-year-old former Davis Cup star holds the record as the youngest player to win an Open match and has reached the last 16 at his home major on three occasions and the third round three other times.
Despite his flagging ranking, he's confident of once again causing some first-week carnage.
"Looking back, I did play some of my best tennis at slams from qualifying," Tomic said.
"I qualied at Wimbledon and made quarters when I was 18. I qualied and won Chengdu (in 2018), my fourth title.
"So you can play a lot of good tennis from qualies. You need to bring it in to the main draw.
"But I'm excited for the Australian Open. Yep, I'll give it a go. Hopefully I get a good draw and I can play some good tennis."
