The practice sessions, presumably, are over for now between Novak Djokovic, the player who is already a major champion, and Bernard Tomic, the 18-year-old who is hoping to become one.
On Wednesday, Djokovic and Tomic will play for real in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
“You know, I think he has a respect for me; I’ve got a much bigger respect for him,” Tomic said in his low-key baritone drone that bears a certain sonic resemblance to Andy Murray’s.
But like Djokovic (and Murray) before him, Tomic, the young Australian with the unconventional game, is making his mark at the highest level and has now gone further at Wimbledon than either of them at age 18.
After winning three rounds in the qualifying tournament, Tomic has now won four rounds in the main event, defeating well-established veterans in every match, including the former top-10 player Nikolay Davydenko and the No. 5 seed, Robin Soderling. Tomic’s latest victim Monday was Xavier Malisse, an unseeded 30-year-old Belgian who reached the semifinals here in 2002.
“It’s bizarre to play him,” Malisse said. “He has a game that’s a bit like Murray. He kind of lulls you to sleep and then suddenly he hits a big backhand down the line. I think his game is superb for grass. He’s a good player. For me, he’s a player who has it all, but for hardcourts and clay courts it’s going to be a bit tougher.”
It has become tougher for phenoms, however gifted, to break through to the highest level in the men’s game. There were no teenagers in the top 100 at one stage last year, But Tomic, ranked 158th at the moment, is expected to soar into the top 80 after this run. He is also in grand company. Only three younger men have reached the quarterfinals here in the Open era: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Boris Becker.
“I have nice words for Bernard,” Djokovic said after beating the French veteran Michael Llodra, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, on Monday. “I think he has a great potential, a great talent. He’s showing it right now.”
Murray was in impressive form, too. Facing a tricky opponent on Centre Court, Richard Gasquet of France, Murray won, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2, and finished with a bow in the direction of the royal box, where the newly married royal couple Prince William and Princess Catherine were in attendance for the first time during the tournament.
“Sort of off the cuff,” Murray said of his bow. “Didn’t think too much about it. If it was funny, that’s fine, but I wasn’t intending it to be funny.”
Murray, seeded fourth and trying to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936, will face the unseeded Feliciano López in the quarterfinals. López, a left-handed Spaniard, rallied from two sets down to defeat Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-5.
Mardy Fish, the last American remaining in either singles draw, also advanced, upsetting Tomas Berdych, a finalist here last year, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4, to reach his first Wimbledon quarterfinal.
Posted by: CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Filed under: Tennis Articles Tagged: | Tennis News
