Pat Rafter was seemingly left very surprised after hearing that Bernard Tomic was 32 years old and still active in pro tennis. 

Since the Australian Open is just a few weeks away, the Australian tennis legend was asked to make some predictions for the upcoming first Grand Slam of the year. At first, the former world No. 1 was asked about Nick Kyrgios’ comeback and he remarked that he would not be surprised if the 29-year-old made a deep run but that an early exit wouldn’t surprise him either.

Then, he was asked about Tomic, who was once regarded as one of the most talented and promising players and someone who would win multiple Grand Slams and reach the world No. 1 position. A decade and a half year, he has four ATP titles in his collection – one Slam quarterfinal he reached at 2011 Wimbledon – and he has been ranked as high as No. 17 in the world. 

For five years now, Tomic hasn’t been competing on the main-level tournaments. Instead, he has been mostly spending his time on the ITF and Challenger circuits and he now sits at No. 214 in the world. 

“Bloody hell. Thirty two? It’s good to see Bernie have a crack. I haven’t see him play in years. Let’s have a look, see how he goes,” Rafter told AAP when asked if he had any predictions for the former world No. 17.

Tomic isn’t getting help from Tennis Australia, he just recently received a very cold response

It has been many years since the four-time ATP champion received a wildcard from an Australian tournament – and many believe that his past history with Tennis Australia and feuds with the likes such as Lleyton Hewitt contributed to that. When it specifically comes to the Australian Open, made his last main draw appearance there in 2021 after winning three qualifying matches. In 2022, he lost in the qualifying and in the last two years didn’t play at all in Melbourne Park after Tennis Australia refused to even give him a qualifying wildcard.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Tomic was preparing for the new season and hoping to get a wildcard for the Brisbane International before the Australian Open. When told about it, Brisbane tournament director Cam Pearson very openly indicated they weren’t interested in making that move. 

“Rankings will determine the field for the qualifiers and a couple of wildcards as well. We haven’t made decisions on the wildcards, but I suspect it would be pretty tough to give one to him,” Brisbane boss Person said.

While it seems obvious that Tomic isn’t a wildcard option for any tournament director in Australia, Australian Open boss Craig Tiley claimed last week it wasn’t about their relationship.

“It’s not so much about the relationship, but it’s about if they’re deserving. The things we consider – the form of the player coming in, there is a factor looking at age in some instances because do you want to give a younger player the opportunity versus one who’s been the journeyman for a while? We haven’t made the (wildcard) decisions in qualifying yet … we’ve made quite a few decisions on the main draw which we’ll announce in the coming days,” Tiley explained at the time.

Since Tomic is now ranked just outside the top-200, he will at least be able to play in the Australian Open qualifying. But expecting him to get a main draw wildcard probably doesn’t make sense.

Tomic admitted that there were mistakes on his part

Over the last two years, the 32-year-old has been praised for putting up the effort on the lower-tier tournaments and still trying to do something positive with his career. And in early 2024, he admitted that he made some mistakes in the past but also added that he changed.

“Of course, I have changed a lot. I have matured a little bit more. It has positively impacted my game. If I knew these things in my 20s, if I was professional and did everything that was asked of me, maybe I could have won a Grand Slam. I do not know if I did the right thing,” Tomic told The Hindu in January.

“Whatever is meant to happen will happen. You cannot control destiny; everything happens for a reason in life. You learn to respect little things. For sure, I could have been in the top-10, but it is okay. I am in a happy space now. I will try to break into the top-100 or top-50 again and do good things in the next three years.”