Bernard Tomic thrills fans to set up Australian Open Roger Federer tie

This Australian Open has suddenly taken on a new dimension. Bernard Tomic, the Australian teenager with the shots to match his ego, has catapulted himself to the forefront of tennis as he prepares for a dream match against the only player he can be bothered watching, Roger Federer, and there is even a suspicion outside the player's unwavering self-belief that he can do something special when they meet in the fourth round on Sunday.

He may not win and is long odds to do so. Nevertheless, even the great man himself, on the verge of reaching 1,000 matches on Tour, will be wondering about the challenge of a fearless youth with a game unlike anyone else.

Tomic, impressively patient for a prodigy, will have to wait a little while before getting a better chance on a bigger stage and the fact that he has an entire nation on his back – after a stirring five-set win over Alexandr Dolgopolov on centre court on Friday night, he woke up to front page accolades across Australia – will not faze him.

Tomic won 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3, numbers that hardly reflect the drama or excellence of the tennis. He chipped and charged, deftly caressing shots to all angles and occasionally exploding with youthful power. Dolgopolov, coached by the expatriate Brit Jack Reader, was inventive in response and pushed Tomic all the way.

Afterwards the 19-year-old Queenslander handled the avalanche of praise with a mixture of awe and confidence.

"It was remarkable," he said of the atmosphere on Rod Laver Arena. "In that first round as well when I played Fernando [Verdasco] it was also huge. The crowd pumps you and you feel so good out there. It makes you focus and want to win the next point. That's why I think I won."

If a nation can carry one athlete to victory, it may be Australia, where fervour for sport is unrivalled and unquestioning. No Australian has won the Open here since Mark Edmondson beat the three-times Wimbledon champion John Newcombe in 1976, and it would be going some to suggest that Tomic will be the next, but he will delight his supporters in the effort. (It is worth remembering Edmondson was ranked 212th in his finest hour; Tomic is ranked 38th in the world.)

He gave a good account of himself against the world No1 Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year and has matured since then. Not only does he look physically stronger but, mentally, he is growing. When he beat Verdasco, he claimed afterwards he had suckered him into believing he was exhausted after losing the first two sets. True or not, it made everyone sit up and take notice – not for the first time.

Tomic has angered the establishment many times with his boastfulness – once dismissing Lleyton Hewitt as a has-been – but he is ready to delight them now. If Federer needed an incentive to be at the top of his game on Sunday, Tomic has provided it.

The world No3 is in excellent touch – and he could not take on board the notion that he might be feeling tired as he approaches his 1,000th match. Exhaustion and decay are alien concepts to a man who would refuse to sweat in hell in the unlikely event he ever ended up there. The weather has been closer to paradise this week, and the opposition has been similarly benign as Federer has progressed serenely to the fourth round.

"I don't know how it feels to play 1,000 matches," he said after seeing off the dangerous Croat Ivo Karlovic who, depending on the interpretation of statistics, might have been opponent No 999 or 998. The ATP says the latter (as it is not counting Federer's walkover this week); the man himself says: "I'm only at 999, right?

"Yeah, it's a lot matches. I feel healthy. I don't know if I can play another 1,000, but I feel like it's a lot of tennis. I would like to play a lot more."

Federer, feigning indifference but unable to disguise his pride, could not pick out one match as special above the others. "I've had my share of tough losses and also my great wins," he said.

Karlovic, ultimately, was just another number, his power serving nullified by the artistry of a champion still infused with enough ego and ambition to drive himself hard into his 32nd year. He won 7-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 17 minutes, routine brilliance of the understated variety.

Having been spared a visit to the Hisense Arena in the previous round when Andreas Beck withdrew through injury, Federer was making his 53rd consecutive appearance on Rod Laver, and he could not have looked more at home.

So the Swiss and his Spanish friend Rafael Nadal – neither of whom is No1, both of whom crave it still – remain locked in to meet in the semi-finals. Having avoided each other before semi-finals for seven years, they not only played on the same day and consecutively on the same court, but they won with similar, if not identical, ease against opponents who gave the impression they were lucky to be there. They were.

Nadal won a typically muscular encounter against the Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko in five minutes under two hours, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. He was rarely inconvenienced. Lacko, who has talent, showed some of it early in the match, even breaking the world No2, but could not maintain his level. It is a familiar story.

Nadal's body is creaking again, although he declared himself happy with the mysterious knee injury that cut him down while sitting in a chair in his hotel room earlier in the week.

"The knee is fine," he said. "That's the important thing. The match was a really solid one. [I am] very happy about my game."

The last of Federer's record 16 slam victories arrived here two years ago against Andy Murray and, for all his delightful gifts, he has sometimes since looked like a guest lingering too long at a party he once called his own. While the Swiss is rediscovering his best tennis at 31, the aura of invincibility he and everyone else once took for granted has faded. Even the power server Ivo Karlovic briefly inconvenienced him before going down in straight sets on Friday; if Tomic is to make history, now is a good time.

He has played three outstanding matches in this tournament, but none more stirring than his win over Dolgopolov, a virtuoso performance against an opponent of similarly eccentric skills.

Born in Germany, he emigrated to Australia with his Croatian parents when he was seven and has been both an irritant and a delight in his embrace of a game he plainly was born to play.




 







source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/

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