Denis Shapovalov told a great story about the time Bernard Tomic inadvertently left him feeling "furious" as the Canadian tennis star was left stunned over developments during one of their practice sessions.
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Five years ago, the 25-year-old picked the Gold Coast in Australia as the place where he wanted to do a preseason. For those who don't know, the Gold Coast is also the city where Tomic resides.
So Mikhail Youzhny - who was Shapovalov's coach at the time - thought it would be a good idea to give a call to the former world No. 17. And after they arranged a practice sessions that was supposed to last two hours, they learned that the Australian didn't have a hit for half a year and his fitness was pretty poor.
However, the 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist somehow managed to last half an hour before saying he wanted the session to be done. But after coach Youzhny asked if he would be willing to stay on the court for just one super tie-break - the first to 10 points wins - Tomic agreed.
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Since Shapovalov was pretty energetic and the Australian just wanted to leave the court, the Canadian probably thought winning the tie-break would be a cakewalk. But then, it was him who got crushed.
Shapovalov: Tomic was gassed, then he crushed me... I was low-key p-----
"I was doing a pre-season in Gold Coast, and I was super confident, like I made the Paris finals. So I'm working like so hard. and (Mikhail), he's like, 'hey Bernard Tomic is here, like, maybe we set up a practice?' I'm like, 'is he hitting though, like, how good is it gonna be?' You know, he's like, not on the Tour but he says, 'he's good, he's good, let's do two hours tomorrow.' Like 10, 15 minutes in, (Bernard's) like, 'Hey, can we grab a drink? I'm gassed,'" Shapovalov recounted on the All on the Table series.
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"He's like 'This is my first hit in like six months, or something like that. I can't do much more' and we're like '(expletive) okay.' So usually it's like, hey can you stand in one side and like, move me, and he's like 'It's okay and no problem, like, I can do another 10 minutes' and after like 30 minutes he's like, 'yeah guys, I can't, I can't go anymore.'
"(Mikhail's) like, 'hey, could we just play like a quick tiebreak or 10 points to finish practice' and he's like, 'Yeah, sure. Let's do this.' Dude, the guy crushes me, like 10-4, hitting insane, I wasn't playing bad but the guy's like passing me, like playing ridiculous and I was like low-key pissed."
Tomic confessed in the past he wasn't giving his best and gave a stunning quote
After a very successful junior career, the once-promising Australian was tipped to win multiple Grand Slams and reach the world No. 1 ranking. And early in his career, he made some very notable results after reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinal as an 18-year-old qualifier in 2011.
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But while Tomic was hovering around the top-20, 30 for several years, he never managed to unlock his potential to the fullest and become one of the best in the game.
In 2017, the Australian indicated that he was dealing with a burnout and that he was depressed. That same year, he gave some controversial quotes, including the one where he confessed to probably giving only "50 to 60 percent" throughout his career.
"Wouldn't anyone want to take a job in a professional sport in one of the biggest sports in the world and only give 50, 60 per cent and earn millions of dollars? I think everybody would take that," he said at the time.
Shortly after, Tomic slumped and struggled with his game and results for several years. Earlier this year, the 32-year-old admitted he probably did some things wrong in the past and said he was determined to do well in the next few years.
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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.
This year, he won an ITF title and finished as runner-up at the Fairfield Challenger. Heading into 2025, Tomic is ranked at No. 202 in the world.
