Bernard Tomic is confident he can cause some damage at the Australian Open – but he admits he needs a kind draw to achieve his goal.
Tomic ended his Hopman Cup campaign on a bright note when he breezed past world No.288 Grzegorz Panfil 6-1 6-4, with his only singles loss for the tournament coming against world No.11 Milos Raonic.
The 21-year-old will attempt to defend his Sydney International title next week before heading to the Australian Open, where he has played the majority of his best tennis.
Tomic made the round of 16 at Melbourne Park in 2012, while he reached the third round in both 2013 and 2011.
But on each occasions his campaign was ended by a great of the sport.
In the past two years, it was Roger Federer, in 2011, Rafael Nadal.
Tomic hopes he won’t have to confront either of them – or Novak Djokovic – in the early rounds this year.
“I’m not seeded again. That’s my biggest worry,” Tomic said.
“I need to get a good draw.
“The last three I’ve gone down to Roger and Rafael when I made third rounds.
“So I need the right draw. If I get that, I know I can do very well.”
Tomic has worked hard on his fitness in recent weeks, the world No.51 putting himself through a gruelling training schedule during the Hopman Cup.
The day before his match against Italy’s Andreas Seppi, Tomic practised for five hours.
Then on the morning of match day, he trained a further two hours before defeating Seppi in three sets.
Tomic feels the heavy workload will leave him in good shape for both Sydney and Melbourne.
“I trained well the last five days and this is the sort of confidence I need for defending my tournament next week, so I’m ready,” Tomic said.
Poland secured a spot in the Hopman Cup final with a 2-1 win over Australia on Thursday night.
France will join Poland in the decider if they can beat Spain on Friday.