Bernard Tomic’s progress through the junior ranks of elite tennis has stamped him as the hottest prospect in Australia since Lleyton Hewitt. He tasted varying degrees of success in the boy’s events at the grand slam tournaments: the quarter-finals at the French Open, semi-finals at Wimbledon and finally a victory at the US Open, where he dropped only four games in his defeat of American Chase Buchanan in the final. Tomic made one giant stride on the men’s tour, winning his first top-flight ATP match, against Potito Starace, at the Australian Open in January. His sterling triumph made him the youngest male tennis player to win a match at the first slam of the year. That was Tomic’s only appearance in the main draw of a grand slam to date. He bowed out in the second round but his credentials had been proved. Will Swanton
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