The future is everything but certain for Bernard Tomic as he is once again scrutinised under the media spotlight for his latest antics.
On Tuesday the former top 20 player quit reality TV show I’m A Celebrity….Get Me Out Of Here after three days. Tomic said that he was feeling ‘depressed’ in the jungle as he reflects on the current state of his tennis career. He won 10 matches on the tour last year and is yet to win a main draw match in 2018.
“I thought I’d be super happy, camping for the first time, being around new people … Half the time during the day, I’m just depressed,” he said about his time on the show.
Now at a crossroads in his career, few can tell what direction the Australian is heading towards. Concerns have also been raised about the mental welfare of Tomic, who has vowed to return to training. Former Davis Cup teammate, Sam Groth, has urged the 25-year-old to seek help concerning his ‘deep-seeded’ issues.
“I’m not sure going off into the jungle to deal with it is the way to go about it. I think he has got some deep-seeded issues that he needs to talk to someone with.” Groth told SEN Radio.
“Whatever he is struggling with right now, I don’t know if coming back on the tennis court is really going to help that.”
Tomic faces a long way back to the position he was a few years ago. He is currently ranked 168th in the world, which is his lowest ranking since June 2011. On top of that, the strained partnership between Tomic and Tennis Australia continues to decline. Recently Lleyton Hewitt told reporters that Tomic’s Davis Cup career is ‘highly likely’ to be over.
Six-time grand slam champion Boris Becker shares a somewhat different viewpoint. The 50-year-old is currently in Australia ahead of Germany’s Davis Cup clash in Brisbane this weekend. Speaking about Tomic, he believes his destiny is in his own hands.
“He’s facing a question of where does he want to go with the rest of his life. He’s the only one who could find an answer to that,’’ Becker told Australian media.
“I was lucky that I had a great family behind me who supported me. I say very carefully that they weren’t depending financially on me.
“It’s the problem sometimes that these up-and-coming superstars, they are making a fortune and then they have 5000 friends and sometimes it’s hard to handle.
“Professionally, he does a few things that are unprofessional. He’s responsible for his own life and hopefully he will come around.’’
Support has been offered to Tomic in the past. Tennis Australia has publicly stated their bids to reach out, but the frosty relationship between the two complicates matters. Just last week Tomic threatened to expose ‘corruption’ in the organisation. Something that he never did. Doubles specialist Jonny Peers have branded the current situation as ‘sad.’
“It (the scenes on the reality television show) is sad, knowing what he is going through and knowing him personally,’’ Peers said.
Tomic has been ranked as high as 17th in the world and has won three titles on the ATP Tour.
