Bernard Tomic won his first Challenger Tour title in eight years in front of a sparse crowd as he once again showed the tennis world he is no longer the bratty teen he once was.
Reaching the final of the Lincoln Challenger tournament in Nebraska, the 33-year-old showed heart, saving a championship point on his way to beating Estonian World No. 159 Mark Lajal 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) in front of around two hundred fans.
It marked Tomic’s first title at ATP or the second-tier Challenger level since he upset Italian Fabio Fognini, saving four match points to win the Chengdu Open all the way back in 2018.
The Lincoln triumph will also see Tomic surge into the top 200 to 170 in the world and earn him $24,000 in prizemoney.
Speaking after his win to the dozen fans remaining courtside, the 33-year-old Aussie revealed he was ready to retire less than two weeks ago before jokingly declaring he will go another two decades.
“I’ll be as honest as I can, about 10 days ago I hit a bit of a brick wall, maybe two weeks ago. I said this was going to be my last year, so I guess I have to reassess a few things now,” Tomic said.
“It wasn’t easy since the start of the year – I missed a couple of months and had a beautiful daughter.
“The last couple of weeks I sat down and thought ‘Sh**, I think this is going to be my last year’, and now that I have won I’m going to have to go back to the (drawing) board – I’m probably going to play another 20 years.”
The title win is a long way from the bright lights and packed stadiums he played in front of earlier in his career but it showed Tomic is now playing tennis for the love of the sport.
While he is no longer draws crowds by the thousands, he truly doesn’t mind.
At the end of August 2022, Tomic was a 29-year-old ranked 835 in the world, and completely off the radar.
From a career-high of World No.17 in January 2016, it was as low as he had been since his initial rise after turning pro, and it was a point where many tennis players would have thrown in the towel.
But not for Tomic. Having once bragged about “counting his millions” after a lacklustre performance in Australian Open qualifying in 2018, he then put in the hard yards grinding on the ITF Tour for a couple hundred bucks for several years.
Compared to that a $24,000 windfall and a title is incredible and despite admitting he was considering retiring, it shows Tomic is no longer the man most tennis fans remember.
And the tennis world was quick to commend Tomic on his win and the grit he has shown by coming back from the brink of obscurity to win another title.
“In August 2022, Bernard Tomic languished down at No. 813 in the rankings. He could’ve quit, he could’ve complained, but instead, he wanted to grind it out on the Challenger Tour week after week,” tennis page The First Serve wrote on X.
“After 2,878 days of waiting, Bernie finally has a piece of silverware to show for his efforts.”
“When he dropped out of the Top 100, I thought he wouldn’t come back. That he would retire. I was always surprised that a guy accustomed to big events and bright spotlights would descend “into the mud” of lower-tier tournaments,” Jose Moron said.
“Not only has he been playing for years off the radar, but he does it even in very tough moments when everything seems lost. It’s there, in the darkness of that tunnel — amid injuries, a lack of physical form, and few points on the Ranking — where Bernard’s passion for tennis truly shone through.
“Because Tomic, amid controversies, parties, extravagances, and all that other stuff, has a brutal passion for tennis. And that’s the most beautiful part of it all: his love for this sport goes far beyond everything else. Maybe it’s not too late yet to return to the Top 100 and have one last dance on the grand stages, as a reward for the work of all these years.”
Tomic lost in the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon earlier this month and now will set his sights on the US Open qualifying draw in September.
Tomic was not the only Australian to claim a Challenger crown over the weekend.
Aleksandar Vukic won the Championnats Banque Nationale in Granby, Canada, overcoming 21-year-old Frenchman Arthur Gea 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the final.
Vukic is now a three-time Challenger titlist, with his victory in Granby marking his first title since May 2023.