HIS life might still hold some uncertainties but organisers believe Benard Tomic will be in the right frame of mind to try to defend his Sydney International title in January.
Tournament director Craig Watson is a relieved man being able to confirm that Tomic has signed on again for the combined ATP-WTA event (January 5-11) at Sydney Olympic Park courts.
“To win his first (ATP) title was an important breakthrough for him but equally important for us to get him back as he's a crowd-pleaser,” Watson said. “His tennis is great to watch.
“I've found that with tennis players when they come back to defend titles they grow an extra leg.”
Tomic's personal life as well as his professional hiccups with his coaching arrangements so often brings the Queenslander into the headlines.
In the lead-up to Sydney last January police were called to the roof of a Gold Coast hotel where Tomic and mates were involved in a scuffle in a hot-tub to celebrate his 20th birthday.
His 21st birthday passed in October without incident.
But the fall-out from the eight-month suspended sentence handed to his father John Tomic for assaulting former warm-up partner Thomas Drouet in May is ongoing.
The ATP and ITF have banned Tomic from being an accredited person at tournaments, including the past three grand slams and next year's Australian Open. Tomic Snr can however buy a ticket to the Sydney International.
Tomic was due to name a new coach this month, but there has been no announcement as yet.
Watson said Tomic showed last time on Ken Rosewall Arena he could handle the pressure of both opponents and public opinion.
“It was a great win by him because he was coming off the back of some issues with his father and Tennis Australia back then too,” Watson said yesterday.
“But he played an absolute fantastic tournament last time.”
Tomic has held a consistent ranking - still No51 in the world - for the past season, although he ended it poorly losing in the first round of his last five events.
Watson also named world No5 Juan Martin Del Potro and Poland's Wimbldeon semi-finalist, and world No21, Jerzy Janowicz as Sydney contenders.
Del Potro enjoyed a boom end of the season making three finals back-to-back and winning two - Tokyo and Basel. The 25-year-old Argentine also made the semis at Wimbledon, falling to Novak Djokovic.
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