Each week, Sport360's tennis expert Reem Abulleil runs the rule over the biggest talking points from the tennis world.
The theme for the past couple of days on tour has been redemption as Bernard Tomic strung together his first back-to-back matches of the season to win his first title since his surgery, while Viktor Troicki won his first match back from his 12-month ban.
Tomic’s trophy victory in Bogota may not seem like the mightiest of achievements but it came just days after the troubled Australian was dumped by IMG and it forced him to dig really deep to beat ace machine Ivo Karlovic in the final.
For a player who hasn’t been able to win two matches in a row all season, and who has previously been accused of tanking matches or not caring enough, it was vital for Tomic to exhibit that kind of fighting spirit to try and show any sort of endearing quality in front of the general public.
He was on the receiving end of 39 aces from Karlovic, was taken to a final set tiebreak, and came out standing on the other side. Tomic has been struggling with fan appeal, particularly in Australia and his win the other day got Australian news portal, News Ltd, to write the headline: “Bernard Tomic finally did something right”. Let’s hope it’s a lasting effect.
Meanwhile, the tournament organisers in Gstaad have received some criticism for giving a wildcard to Viktor Troicki, who was serving a year-long ban for refusing to take a drug test. The Serb, who was once ranked No12 in the world, won his first match on return, beating Austrian talent Dominic Thiem to advance.
Many believe the tournament should have given a wildcard to a young promising home prospect rather than giving it to someone who just completed a doping ban but I don’t understand this process of thought.
Switzerland have just five players in the top-400, two of which are Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. The tournament awarded two wildcards to Swiss pair Yann Marti (No212) and Henri Laaksonen (No319) and I’m assuming the only player left out of those five, Marco Chiudinelli, didn’t request a wildcard.
As for Troicki, he has served his time and if we believe he should be punished forever then what’s the difference between lifetime bans and shorter ones? Either we believe in the punishment system or we don’t but we can’t make random judgments about who should or shouldn’t give a returning offender a break.
Troicki will have a long way before he can return to where he was before (he’s now ranked No847) and Gstaad shouldn’t be vilified for giving him a chance to start fighting his way back.
