Bernard Tomic has become the highest ranked Australian man since February 2008 after his recent run to the quarter-final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Last week the 22-year-old defeated David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet to set up a last eight encounter with world No.1 Novak Djokovic. Despite losing in straight sets, Tomic was the only player that was able to take Djokovic into a tie-break during the tournament. The Australian was praised for his performance during the match by Djokovic.
“He deserves to be top 20 I think with his qualities. He’s a player that possesses a lot of talent and potential”. The world No.1 said.
“He’s working a bit harder. It’s paying off. I wish him all the best. I’m good friends with him off the court. We practice quite a lot. I think he’s on the right way. He just needs to commit more”. He added.
Tomic currently has one ATP title this year after successfully defending his Colombian Open title in July. He has only reached the semifinal in one other ATP tournament in 2015 which was in Delray Beach, Florida. He currently has a win-loss this season of 39-24.
His recent triumphs in China have given Tomic a burst of confidence as he tries to rise higher in the rankings before the season ends. Tomic recently said that he is currently playing ‘top five, top eight tennis‘. The 22-year-old will play in Stockholm, Valencia and Paris before his year ends.
“I’m very, very confident and I’d love to say to finish top 15 this year, it’s very close. But who knows? If I keep playing the tennis I’m playing, even higher than that is possible, I think,”. Tomic said.
The next tournament for Tomic is this week’s Stockholm Open where he is the fourth seed. He has a first round bye and will play either America’s Sam Querrey or former Australian Open runner up Marcos Baghdatis in his first match.
