Having rediscovered his belief on Wimbledon’s lawns, Bernard Tomic will go in search of badly needed rankings points on the US hardcourts.
Tomic is set to drop out of the world’s top 100 for the first time since 2011 after losing 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych in the second round at the All England Club on Wednesday.
It is a marked fall from grace for the 21-year-old, who only last year confidently spoke of breaking into the world’s top 10.
Tomic said he always expected his ranking to suffer on the long road back from twin hip surgeries in February.
But his encouraging performance against world No.6 Berdych – in which he looked capable of springing a huge upset – has convinced him he still has the ability to mix it with the best.
“Absolutely it does (give me belief),” Tomic said.
“He (Berdych) has been there the last three, four, five years around the top five.
“He’s beaten Roger (Federer) and Novak (Djokovic) and he can beat everyone.
“I tried my best and it’s only my sixth, seventh tournament back and I was feeling good out there.”
Tomic will take a short break before turning his attention to the US season, starting with the ATP event in Washington late next month.
The Australian’s meek showing in America last year – winning just two of six matches – means he has little rankings points to defend and any wins should result in significant gains.
He’ll need success to ensure automatic qualification for September’s US Open but Tomic is confident of making swift progress.
“Maybe to be in the top 50 at the end of the year would be good,” Tomic said.
“Considering the months I have missed this year, that would be good for sure.
“I have to get as fit as I can.
“It’s going to be my first time on hardcourt with my new hip, so it will be interesting to see.”
Tomic, long considered one of the game’s most promising young talents, said 2014 had been an exercise in patience so far.
“For sure, the talk was last year of getting to the top 10, but tennis changes all the time,” Tomic said.
“I didn’t know after the Australian (Open) I was going to have those surgeries after I started the season well and made the final in Sydney.
“You just have to stay positive.”
