Bernard Tomic delighted to be playing in the shadows

It was a case of too much too soon for publicity-shy Australian. Now, he tells Paul Newman in Sydney, he’s reaping the rewards of his compatriot Kyrgios’ penchant for the spotlight

Bernard Tomic still attracts the crowds in his homeland – but prefers the quieter life (Getty Images)

There have been times in the opening days of the new season when you could have been forgiven for thinking that modern-day Australian men’s tennis began with Lleyton Hewitt and ended with Nick Kyrgios. Hewitt, who will be making a farewell appearance at his 20th successive Australian Open next week, is currently a major focus of attention around the country, while headlines – mostly favourable for the moment – follow the controversial Kyrgios wherever he goes.

On Saturday Kyrgios helped his country win the Hopman Cup mixed-team event for the first time in 17 years and tonight the 20-year-old will join forces here with Hewitt and Pat Cash to represent “Australia” against “The World” (Rafael Nadal, Gaël Monfils and Mats Wilander) in a televised extravaganza showcasing “FAST4”, the shortened format of the game which is being championed Down Under.

Supporters of Bernard Tomic might start to get aggrieved if this goes on for much longer. The 23-year-old from Queensland is Australia’s highest-ranked player, enjoyed the best season of his career last year and is expected to climb to a personal high of No 17 in today’s updated world rankings list after reaching the semi-finals last week in Brisbane, where his victims included Kei Nishikori.

Tomic is the No 1 seed here at this week’s Sydney International and will be one of the top 16 seeds at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in Melbourne. Richard Gasquet, one of those players ranked above him, is injured.

Nevertheless, you are unlikely to find Tomic complaining about the lack of attention. While the former world junior No 1 loves playing in his home country and nearly always performs well here, he is uncomfortable about being at the centre of publicity. He lives in Monte Carlo, where he enjoys the fact that he has plenty of neighbours who are much more famous than he is.

“Any chance I get I go back to Monaco,” Tomic says. “It’s beautiful. Nobody there really cares who you are or what you have. You’re left alone. It’s a bit difficult being back in Australia. It’s tough. A lot of people know you and follow you everywhere you go. It’s not easy to deal with that mentally, so I prefer being in Monaco.”

Between the Australian Open and the end of last season Tomic came back to his homeland only once. “We have so much attention in our country it’s very, very difficult to get away from,” he says. “I don’t like it. I don’t like the attention. People knowing you, I really don’t deal with that well. I think that’s why I don’t go back much.”

He adds: “Obviously, you can’t sign all the signatures and stuff. You have to leave out some people. You can’t always give. People have to understand that and not be upset if sometimes they can’t get a photo or something to do with me. It’s difficult. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t cope well in Australia. I just like to be left alone.”

Tomic welcomes the arrival on the scene of two hugely promising younger Australians in Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis. “When I was between the ages of 18 and 21 Lleyton was struggling with injuries and everything was on me,” Tomic says. “There was a lot of pressure. In the last year Nick has come along and now it’s an equal sort of thing.

“This has been pretty much his first 18 months on tour and he’s had some negative press, but people have to understand he’s a very emotional guy. He loves tennis, he loves the atmosphere. He just gets so into it that sometimes he loses focus. But that’s his personality. He’s different.

“I’m different on the court, I’m very structured, very focused, I don’t do many things wrong or break rackets. But Nick’s got that personality. I love it. I think it’s really fun to watch him play. He’s a character out there.”

Tomic and Kyrgios get on well and have played doubles together, sometimes with hilarious consequences. In Shanghai last year they were doing a rock-scissors-paper routine when deciding who would return serve at deuce.

Tomic used to be regarded as the leader of the Australian brat pack, especially when his abrasive father, John, played a much more hands-on role in his coaching. Today Tomic Senior spends most of his time working with Bernard’s 17-year-old sister, Sara, the world No 454.

Nevertheless, Tomic still finds himself in plenty of scrapes. Last year he was dropped from his country’s Davis Cup squad after outspoken criticisms of Tennis Australia and spent a day in a prison in Miami after complaints about the noise coming from his hotel suite during a late-night party. Even last week he was reported to have clashed with security staff at a Gold Coast resort, where he was said to have complained about having to pay a $20 court fee.

For the most part, however, Tomic has been focused on his work. He has paid particular attention to his physical preparation and was rewarded last year with his most consistent season on the tour. At this time last year he was world No 71.

“Before I was struggling to focus and to concentrate,” he says. “That’s a weakness that I needed to work on and I have improved a lot. There’s still a long way to go and it’s all about consistency on the tour. If you’re playing four tournaments in a row you want to make sure you play well in at least three of them. It’s no good just playing one good tournament in four or five. That’s where last year was better.”

Looking back, Tomic thinks that in one respect reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals at 18 and ending that year in the world’s top 50 did him no favours. “I thought that I would be top 15 by the time I was 19,” he says. “I was playing well. Life was good.” He adds: “The problem was that it lifted up the expectation levels.”

And the future? “The biggest thing with me is just staying focused and doing fitness and working on the little things,” Tomic says. “The tennis will come if I’m doing the right things off the court.”