By SBS's Glenn Osborne in Melbourne
Australian Tennis has needed a new hero for a while now. It's been nine long years since Lleyton Hewitt won at Wimbledon, and the drought for Australian women is almost too hard to think about. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980, in case you're wondering.
But in the last few days, a new hero may just have emerged.
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We all know Bernard Tomic. Two years ago he was the youngest man – or boy, really – to win at the Australian Open, as a 16-year-old.
He's already managed to have fallings out with Hewitt, Australian Open schedulers and Tennis Australia officials. His temper and disregard for authority may be the only things that alienate him from the average sports fan, for he is supremely talented, perhaps more so than the likes of Hewitt before him. He hits the ball with such power from such a relaxed, languid stance, you wonder whether he's really that bothered.
But there's also something beautifully naïve about Tomic. He plays with the freedom that only someone so young can embrace. He's not scared of names, of reputations, or of people high up the tennis tree.
The way he disposed of the 31st seed, Feliciano Lopez, yesterday, was easier than anyone expected. And that brash nature bubbled to the surface again as Tomic closed in on match point. Preparing to smash a Lopez lob, Tomic took his eyes off the ball, adjusted his t-shirt, then stretched up and dispatched the smash into the corner. It was cocky, there was a bit of showmanship to it, but when you're 18 and on the verge of a match against Rafael Nadal, maybe you're allowed to.
If he can keep his feet on the ground, and be prepared to work when things are not going his way – as will inevitably happen at his age – the sky is the limit.
Tomic must choose his counsel wisely, and keep a lid on those emotions. At times he's displayed all the traits we've become sick of from our elite athletes in recent years. Confidence is a good thing – arrogance is not.
Whether Australian fans embrace that cockiness remains to be seen.
He faces his biggest test tomorrow though, the world's best player Rafael Nadal. Jim Courier joked with Tomic that he'd need a rest ahead of playing Nadal – and he's not wrong. Nadal will exploit the one obvious weakness in Tomic's game, his endurance. In short bursts he'll be able to keep up with Nadal, but if the Spaniard is allowed to push Tomic around the court in long rallies, the Aussie will struggle.
It's unlikely Tomic's Australian Open journey will progress beyond tomorrow, but the big journey is just beginning.
