His name is Bernard Tomic and at the tender age of just 18, the teenager is already Australia's Number One tennis player after a scintillating display at this years Wimbledon Championship.
Few people outside of the tennis scene would have been aware of the talented Tomic prior to the tournament. Despite being both an Australian and US Open junior title winner, the youngster had still to make his mark in the men's circuit; his best result being a third round exit at the hands of Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open earlier this year.
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| Bernard Tomic (aged 13) with some of his junior trophies. (Photo:TheAge.com) |
So when Tomic came up against the former world no.3, Nikolay Davydenko, in the first round at The All England Club, few people would have expected him to cause too many problems for the experienced Russian.
But the German-born qualifier with Australian citizenship expressed the great innocence of youth within his style of play, proving himself to be fearless with every point he battled for and far too much for the shell-shocked Davydenko to handle. In seemingly no time at all, he romped to a straight sets victory and earned the support of bewildered onlookers in the Court 14 crowd who knew they had just witnessed the newest tennis prodigy.
Things were only just beginning for Tomic, however. In the second round, a combination of sheer determination and extraordinary self-belief saw one of the remarkable comebacks of the Championship.
Two sets to love down against Igor Andreev, few would have criticised Tomic if he had lost his desire and thrown the obligatory towel in given his seemingly perilous position. After taking the third set 6-3, a series of impressive ground strokes and excellent forehands led to him taking the fourth set 6-4 to level the match up. Then in an unremarkable turnaround the Australian powered himself into the third round by taking the decisive set 6-1, leaving Andreev both perplexed and angry that he had fell victim to Tomic having seemingly been in an unassailable position just a couple of hours earlier.
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| Bernard Tomic in action against Novak Djokovic. (Photo:TheTennisTimes) |
The third round saw Tomic handle a new pressure as he played on one of the show courts at The All England Club for the very first time, and faced tough opposition in the shape of No.5 seed Robin Soderling. But yet again, Tomic failed to be overawed by the big occasion and wasted little time in hammering a nail into the Swede's coffin.
After taking just 18 minutes to wrap up the first set 6-1, Tomic then increased the misery of his 26-year-old opponent by swiftly taking the following two sets and ensure that Soderling was the highest placed seed not to make it through to the second week.
Only Xavier Malisse now stood in Tomic's way as he bidded to become the youngest player since Boris Becker to reach a Wimbledon quarter final. With momentum and confidence flourishing, Tomic quickly disposed of the X-man in straight sets to set up a potentially fascinating tie with Novak Djokovic in the quarter final.
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| Tomic celebrates his Last-16 victory over Xavier Malisse (Photo:TheTelegraph) |
Ultimately the fairytale run had to come to an end at some stage and for Tomic it would be against the Serbian. Despite losing the first set, Tomic possessed the same characteristics that had served him so well up to this point and remarkably levelled the match at one set all.
The powerful Tomic forehand, like a bludgeoning axe, threatened to scupper Djokovic's game plan altogether, but the temperamental Serbian somehow managed to maintain his composure and overcame every question what was asked of him by Tomic, before eventually taking both the crucial third and fourth sets.
For now at least, Tomic, who has just leapfrogged Lleyton Hewitt in the ATP rankings to become Australia's new Number One, will have to wait another year before he gets another chance to conquer the grass courts of Wimbledon. But his inspirational attitude, self-driven determination and underdog status at this years Championship have earned him an army of followers and ensured that he will be one of the players fans will be looking forward to seeing at next years Championships.
With the maturity of age and experience, it may not be too long before Tomic joins the prestigious group of Australians that includes names like Pat Cash, Rod Laver & Pat Rafter, by winning a grand slam.
