High self-esteem and public professions of ability are indeed two elements athletes at any level need in order to persevere in sports where many factors affecting the outcomes of their competitions are simply beyond personal control, so we can forgive, or accept at least, Bernard Tomic’s statement that he feels as though he is one of the top-five players in the world after he was swept from the Australian Open by Andy Murray 6 – 4, 6 – 4, 7 – 6.
Now, to actually become one of the world’s top five, Tomic needs to move up 12 positions from his current 17th ranking.
To beat Murray in the Australian Open, however, Tomic would have needed Murray’s expectant wife to go into labour, since he is already on record as saying he would abandon the tournament if wife Kim Sears’ time came.
To Tomic’s credit, he did not leave any game in the locker room. He fought tenaciously in the final set when it would have been easy to collapse and yield to Murray. He even picked up his game in the third set.
Australia’s top male player is determined to take the setback against Murray as a positive sign that he can not only move up the rankings, but also remain there long-term.
