'WELL DONE BERNARD'

That's how you 'stick it to the man'. Ever watched the movie 'School of Rock' ? Classic stuff and a rather funny line was said on more than one occasion that had petulance written all over it. Bernard Tomic just stuck it to Tennis Australia in more ways than one by reclaiming the title he won in Bogota the previous year.
TA and Bernie don't really see eye to eye on more than one subject so it was up to Bernie to show the tennis hierarchy in this country that he can still manage without them. This latest title goes to show that the young fellow has a heart and not just an angry mouth towards tennis officialdom in this country.
I don't mind Bernie because he has no time for Tennis Australia and he is a professional player who by rights should be forever grateful to the governing body of the sport, yet he isn't. So why is this ? It's pretty obvious, it's because it is not being run by people with any credibility or decision making capabilities that will see the sport grow and keep producing players who will give their right arm to play for their country.
Bernie's decision to speak out just prior to the Davis Cup was timed magnificently, why do you think he did it when he did ? He had no intention of playing for Australia in the tie against Kazakhstan because he does not respect the way in which the sport is managed. His rather lengthy post match press conference at Wimbledon was nothing short of a young tennis professional simply venting his displeasure at how mismanaged the sport is in Australia.
Sure Pat Rafter is in charge now it seems however he has a lot of work to do to clean up many years of blunders and poor decision making including the whole funding farce. I do also find it rather weak of Tennis Australia to pull the funding from Bernie's sister Sara just because they do not like John Tomic. Apparently Sara gets along well with Tennis Australia officialdom, just ask Pat Rafter, he said just that in a recent interview. The example TA sets is less than exemplary.
If they kept supporting Sara then John Tomic would have nothing to complain about because surely even he can see that Bernie does not require further funding but Sara obviously does. TA are about as professional as Milli Vanilli and own just about as much credibility as well with their 'out of touch' ways of dealing with certain issues that the game presents regularly. Who's Milli Vanilli you ask ? Look them up, they got found out in the end as the imposters that they were.
So to cut a long story short, well done young Bernie, that's how you deal with these guys, simply beat them at their own game with a bit of success every now and then. It's not the sort of sport you can expect to keep winning at regularly however claiming an ATP title especially when many are against you is the way to deal with things.
About four years ago I upset some locals with a few 'home truths' about the way in which the sport was being handled in our little district. I upset them to the point that some said they would not play certain local events if I played them, interesting way of dealing with someone you don't like. I have always said that the ONLY way to deal with someone you don't like is to beat them on court, not off court, that lacks heart.
I have since played those events after the dust had settled and I learned that it was only a rather small minority that spoke up to have me excluded. These included people who still don't own the balls to front up and play locally for fear of failure.
I have always maintained that tennis is a sport that some own a 'boutique' way of tip toeing around the game rather than getting their hands dirty. The sport is full of 'em, nature of it and will never change.
Bernie is having a go with no fear of failure despite countless amounts of 'experts' wishing him to fail but he is proving that he is unfazed by it all, best way to be........