Bernard Tomic may have retreated to the second highest level of professional tennis, but his successes have not returned to Australians.
From a German perspective, the ATP Challenger tournament in Lille has some interesting starters to offer: Yannick Maden, for example, who finished in third place, played confidently in round two. Tobias Kamke also continues, defeating a man known from his matches at TC Grosshesselohe in the second German Bundesliga: Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik.
However, a close look at the tableau reveals that Lille is also home to a player who claims to have the talent for the top ten places in the ATP charts: Bernard Tomic. More precisely, Tomic was at the start, because the Australian set another exclamation mark behind his already surprisingly unsuccessful season. Tomic lost to the Frenchman Antoine Hoang in three sets, the number 251 of the world. Which is only relieved by the fact that Tomic is only 70 places ahead of his conqueror in the world rankings.
In 2018 Tomic played exactly three matches at the highest level. With benevolent contemplation. The three games took part in the Australian Open qualifying competition, with the final stop Lorenzo Sonego. Tomic’s relapse was already foreseeable last year, but in Paris (against Dominic Thiem) or Wimbledon (against Mischa Zverev) there was at least a place in the main field.
Tomic’s last success on the ATP tour dates from last October in Tokyo. He defeated the Portuguese Joao Sousa at the 500er tournament there. In doubles, Bernard Tomic is on the road to success in Lille. With compatriot Bradley Mousley he survived the first round against Andre Begemann and Florina Mergea (albeit by giving up the German-Romanian couple), now it’s against Tim Pütz and Hugo Nys.