Foot Fault!

It’s easy to hate on Bernard Tomic; He’s young, he’s talented, he carries with him an air of quiet (and sometimes very loud) arrogance, he stupidly drives a car so ridiculously flashy and OTT that the law only permits him to use it to and from practice, and as of today we can see that he also appears to already be reaping the rewards of fame romantically.

We were all given yet another reason to do so yesterday when the confident teenager belittled Fernando Verdasco - his first round performance - during his press run.

“It’s a winnable match for me. It’s not one of those big names, like a big seed [...] He beat me once in Brisbane I think when I was 16 up there. That was when he was on his run, playing well. I think, you know, the last six months he hasn’t really done much. I think it’s a good time to play him.”

As harsh and overconfident his comments appear, Tomic is only regurgitating what most knowledgeable tennis fans have been saying for a long time now. And in an era where players are so willing to play the tired ‘PR game’ in order to stay on the right side of the media, Tomic’s comments are quite refreshing.

Whether or not he can actually back up this talk by upsetting the former Australian Open semifinalist is another question however; one we’ll soon know the answer to and be able to jurge accordingly.