Bernard Tomic shows he’s a changed man with a VERY telling act as he tries to turn his tennis career around

After advancing to the final of last week’s Challenger Tour Event in Barranquilla, Bernard Tomic opted to withdraw from the showpiece event in a bid to secure a spot in the main draw for this year’s US Open.

Qualifying for the final Grand Slam of the tennis season commences on Monday and the Aussie star was forced to make a quick exit from Colombia, jetting north-east to New York in order to make it to Flushing Meadows for his Round One qualifying match against US player Patrick Kypson on Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall in Barranquilla in the past week saw organisers postpone Tomic’s final against British star Arthur Fery by 24 hours.

With the clock ticking, the 32-year-old, who last qualified for the main draw of a slam at the 2021 Australian Open, decided to cede the final to world No 237, Fery.

Tomic, who entered the tournament in Barranquilla as the No 3 seed, has enjoyed a resurgent vein of form in recent months, bouncing back from a difficult few years on the Challenger Tour.

The Aussie has reached two finals on the circuit in recent months, having been beaten in the final of the Lexington Challenger Tour event earlier in July by Zachary Svajda.

It means Tomic, who reached a career high ranking of No 17 on the ATP Tour, will extend his wait to claim his first title since he won the ATP250 in Chengdu in September 2018.

Should he advance to the Second Round, Tomic will come up against either Henrique Rocha or No 23 seed Pierre-Hughes Herbert.

Reaching the Second Round of the qualifiers will see Tomic pocket AU$64,449, while if he secures a berth in the Third Round, he’ll bank $88,194.

Tomic did not enter any qualifying events for the Grand Slams in 2023 and 2024, before returning earlier this year at the Australian Open, where he was knocked out in the First Round by Slovakian player Jozef Kovalik.

The Australian, who once boasted about ‘counting his millions’ back in 2018, would pocket $64,000 on the Challenger Tour in 2024, having also fallen outside the top 1200 rankings in 2023.

But the signs are promising for the 32-year-old Aussie, who seems hungry to get back onto the big stage at the US Open, which starts on August 24. A berth in the First Round of the main event would see the former world No 17 bank AU$170,000, with Tomic having already banked career earnings of AU$10.1million.

‘Tennis has become part of my life ever since I was seven. Obviously, I had a dad that pushed me extremely hard and that’s one of the reasons I got there, in a sense,’ the Australian said to The Changeover podcast in June.

‘But when you look at this whole picture, now that I’m 32, it’s a purpose. It still gives me something to do. Without tennis, I don’t know what I would do.

‘I’m sitting about 200 in the world, or whatever, and my goal is to be top 100 and then I can retire. It’s more of a statement, that sort of thing, so let’s see if I can do it.

‘But the whole sort of sense you’ve got to find your purpose, something that gets you going now that you’re older, you want something to give. And it’s about tennis.

‘It’s the only thing I’m good at. I’ve been good at it for almost three decades, so it gets me going. I can still play decent. I’m not in my prime like I was… but that’s why I’m challenging myself to get back there one more time. And then retire happy, guilt-free.’

His comments came after the Australian reached the Round of 16 at the ATP 250 in Mallorca that same month.

He bested Rinki Hijikata across three sets but was bested by world No 43 Roberto Bautista Agut in the Second Round.