Bernard Tomic upset top seed and world no. 13 Fabio Fognini 61 36 76, saving four match points to win the most important title of his career in Chengdu, China.
When Fognini couldn’t touch an inside out Tomic forehand to his backhand corner, a visibly emotionally overcome Tomic fell to the court flat on his back and continued to mutter to himself. He was as shocked, relieved and overjoyed as any player who ever won an ATP title ever was.
Over a year ago, the notion of the 25 year old Tomic winning a title again – he had won three previously – looked impossible. At Wimbledon in 2017 after an early loss, Tomic admitted he didn’t care if he won or lost anymore, his enthusiasm to compete had vanished. The tennis world came down hard on Tomic for expressing his true feelings. He was written off as a wasted talent, tanking failure.
Everybody dumped Tomic off as if he were rubbish. Head, Nike, Yonex, Tennis Australia, Lleyton Hewitt, the media, everybody considered the enigma of Tomic to be finished. But Tomic didn’t stop believing and he decided to get serious. He dug deep and fought his way back to once again find the level of playing his best tennis. He cared again, he wanted to be a winner.
There were no guarantees Tomic would succeed. Nobody was going to give him any free points or matches. He had tow work his way back up from Challengers and low level events where the players are hungrier and more desperate than a guy with $20 million in the bank.
Now we see in China Bernard Tomic showed he’s a champion, a true champion. He rose from the ashes like a Phoenix. He believed when nobody else did. He dug down deep and summoned the best tennis of his career. Tomic is a champion. All the doubters and cynics and armchair titans and experts have to join the chorus and salute that Bernard Tomic is a CHAMPION.
It was beautiful to see the joy, relief, exhilaration, ecstasy, thrill after Tomic won the match point. Fognini gave him a quick cold handshake, but Tomic didn’t care. He continued to enjoy the moment, the most joy he ever showed on a tennis court, talking to himself, looking skyward to his God, even kissing the court and embracing a Panda mascot.
It was Tomic vs. the world, nobody with him, nobody in his corner, no support, no coach (the ATP site lists his father as his coach), no entourage, and Tomic prevailed in China.
When you think about pro tennis stories of redemption and perseverance, like Brian Baker, Jennifer Capriati, Tennys Sandgren, Monica Seles, Victor Estrella Burgos, Thomas Muster, in a strange way, Bernard Tomic should be part of that company.
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Tomic quotes after the final…
“I should have lost five times. In the second round in qualifying to (Egor) Gerasimov, I was down 0/40 at 4-4 in the third set and I somehow got through that match; against (Bradley) Klahn in the first round I was down 7-6, 3-1 and in the second round I was down a match point as well against Harris. It’s been a rollercoaster, but I played more aggressive in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. I don’t know how many match points I saved today.
“I haven’t won a title since Bogota in 2015. At 6/3 [in the tie-break] he struck a double fault, then the court began to get slippery. We both agreed to keep playing, but during my matches in qualifying and the first round it was slippery, so I began to stand ready for the return differently. It enabled me to return on the 6/4 point, then I got a lucky net cord winner on the next point.
“For me to win here is huge, one of the biggest [ATP World Tour] 250 tournaments in the world and it means that I’ll rise back up the ATP Rankings.”
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« Previous 1 2Hartt · October 5, 2018 at 11:21 am
So Wang defeated Sabalenka in SS. I was rooting for her, partly because it’s great to see a Chinese player do so well in Beijing, and partly because I have a hard time with Sabaleka’s grunting. She is not just loud, she has a variety of grunts, and many last a long time. I had the sound practically off, and it was still annoying. One poster calls her “Howlerenka,” and I think that is apt.
In any case, Wang played well, made some good defensive shots, moved well, and generally kept her cool. (Except for a period when her coach was desperately trying to get her to be more positive.) Sabalenka had a lot of UFEs in the match, and that was one major cause for her loss.
Scoop Malinowski · October 5, 2018 at 11:49 am
About five years ago Paul McNamee told me there is an abundance to top junior talent in China. He is a coach there and has been for years. He said back then in about five years Chinese players could become dominant in the WTA. He said the boy players don’t have as much drive and desire as the girls and the boys are preferred in the culture over the girls and tend to have the easier life. The girls have more incentive and motivation. It’s a culture thing.
catherine · October 5, 2018 at 12:07 pm
Hartt – 46 UE from Aryna – I think she is tired and this was not a bad match for her to lose. A break would be good for her but I don’t know if she’s having one.
As I’ve said, I don’t care about the grunting. Aryna may calm down as time goes by. The title is Naomi’s now I suppose although she stuttered a bit in her last match.
Interesting comment about Chinese girls v boys – I can believe it.
catherine · October 5, 2018 at 12:25 pm
Simona is coming back to play the WTA finals although she was diagnosed with a herniated disc. I think she’s taking a big risk if that was her injury. She hurts her back again, she could be out for a long time.
Back injuries need rest. But then I suppose she’s got a built-in excuse for losing.
Hartt · October 5, 2018 at 12:37 pm
Yes, Sabalenka must be tired, she has played a lot of tennis lately. I don’t know when she is scheduled to play next. She was trying to make Singapore, that must be very tough to do at this point in the season.
Re Halep, apparently the doctors told her that the herniated disc was not serious, and she wouldn’t make it worse, that exercise, etc., should deal with it successfully. I think it is great that it looks like she will be able to play in Singapore.
catherine · October 5, 2018 at 12:57 pm
I think anything to do with backs and discs is serious and its not as though Simona plays a serve/volley game where points are over in 4 strokes. She runs and runs and runs. And she’s had injuries over the years, legs, ankles, Achilles etc and seldom taken time off to let them heal. She’s not a robust person. There’s exercise and there’s playing a major tournament. I wonder if the doctors in Roumania tell her what she wants to hear.
Obviously I hope she’ll be ok but I’ve known people with her back problem and they suffered a fair bit.
catherine · October 5, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Back to Sabalenka and her tournaments, she’s playing Tianjin and then Moscow and if she qualifies then Singapore. I’m not sure which events she played before New Haven but it seems to me that by Singapore, if she plays or not, she’ll have about 7 tournaments in a row, maybe more. That’s a lot.
catherine · October 6, 2018 at 5:10 am
Sevastova finds the key to Osaka and sends her out SS. Naomi may have learned a lot in this match.
Shapo out to Mevdevev I noticed although Hartt. probably watched the match, Mevdevev served 12 aces while Denis seemed to have problems with his own serve.
Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2018 at 7:56 am
This is two finals as a WC for Medvedev, maybe some kind of a record.
catherine · October 6, 2018 at 9:14 am
Probably not the final they wanted in Beijing – Woz wins lacklustre encounter with Wang who couldn’t do anything from the baseline and put net shots all in the net.
Really, it was pretty poor. There’s two different sports in women’s tennis. A lottery which one you’ll get.
Was that Peter McNamara ? Didn’t recognise him at all.
catherine · October 6, 2018 at 9:18 am
‘There’re two different sports….’ Actually probably 3 or 4.
Hartt · October 6, 2018 at 9:22 am
I did watch Shapo vs Medvedev. Daniil was unplayable, I’ve never seen him play that well before. He made few UFEs and made one unbelievable shot after another. Denis did not play especially well, but it wouldn’t have made any difference if he had been better. If Medvedev plays at that level in the final he should beat Kei. But he head to play qualies, so has played a lot of tennis so far. It may be difficult for him to continue to play out of his skull like that.
Hartt · October 6, 2018 at 12:47 pm
As so often happens, Gabriela Dabrowski is the last Canadian player still standing in a tourney. She and partner Xu Yifan will play Hlavackova/Strycova in the Beijing final. They have already qualified for Singapore, and if they win it will be their 2nd Premier Mandatory title.
Apparently they played well in their SF match, and the Chinese fans were very excited to see Xu Yifan.
Hartt · October 7, 2018 at 7:19 am
Daniil Medvedev played some amazing tennis once again. He was simply unplayable in his match against Kei Nishikori, especially in the first set, which he won 6-2. He served exceptionally well, winning many of his service games at 0. He was steady, keeping the ball in play when necessary, and had some terrific winners. This was the 2nd match in a row where he was unplayable.
He will move up to No. 22, I think it is, in the rankings, and will pass Khachanov to become the Russian No. 1. Daniil is just 22 years old.
catherine · October 7, 2018 at 8:17 am
I saw some of that. Nishikori didn’t have much of a chance. M makes it all look easy.
Did he have anything special as a junior ?
Wozniaki won in Beijing – I just can’t get excited about Woz and can’t understand how she stays at No 2 in the world. To me her game is so predictable – but then I’m not a player 🙂
Also, lacks character and I find that important.
Hartt · October 7, 2018 at 10:20 am
Medvedev did not do anything special as a junior, reaching No. 13.
He lived in France for many years, so speaks fluent French as well as his native Russian and excellent English.
He has been a jerk on the court on many occasions, but at least he admits he does that and that he is unhappy with it.