Bernard Tomic set to play first ATP main draw match in close to five years in Mallorca

Bernard Tomic will be a surprise name on the schedule today as he plays at the Mallorca Championships, a first appearance at the top level in nearly five years.

Tomic hasn't played a main draw match at the highest level since the Australian Open back in 2021 and in 2022 dropped as low as 825th in the rankings. He also was suspended after launching scathing criticism of the officials and even participated in a survival reality show.

On Tuesday, he will face Rinky Hijikata in his first match in Mallorca after winning through the qualifiers. He now sits 243rd in the ranking but has spent recent years grinding on the lower circuit and now gets his reward.

He has been open and honest also in the past about falling out of love with the game and being ready to let it go after ascending to win four hard court titles and being touted as the next big thing. It all came crashing down and it has been interesting since seeing him attempt to rebuild.

“I sort of let go. I just lost the hunger,” he said.

“How can I say it? Obviously I worked really hard when I was young. I missed my childhood, whatever, but then it got to the stage where, how can I say it, I didn’t feel fulfilled. Even winning on the court, I just wanted to be normal. The travelling? Man, it destroyed me at 24.

“Now compared to who I was 10 years ago. I see things differently and react differently (but) tennis is a very isolated, very tough sport. You’re travelling on your own. You’ve got to give up your whole life. You’re not surrounded by a team (and) you’re on your own. You lose. You’re on your own. You go back to the room, feeling bad, being alone, away from friends, away from family.”

But while he did harbour ambitions to return to his best, he said partying by his own admission took over especially during Covid.

“I didn’t train a lot, honestly, from 26 to 28. During the Covid period, I partied heaps. There was nothing to do except party, you know,” he said in an interview with The Changeover.

“There was nothing to do. And prior to those two years, I was already, like, mucking around partying. So it was like a three year party zone.

“(But then) I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got one more shot at tennis. I better get back.’ It took me like, a year, and a year and a half to get my fitness back. I would play a match and I was, like, dead.”