 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 28 Jun 2008 |
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| 28 Jun 2008 - Wimbledon, London - Eleanor Preston | |
| Tomic downs Boluda in Wimbledon opener |
Wimbledon’s top seed Bernard Tomic opened his 2008 campaign at the Junior Championships with an impressive 6-2, 6-1 win in a much-anticipated first round match against Spanish wonderkid Carlos Boluda Purkiss.
Like Tomic, Boluda is one of the outstanding talents of the junior game but must have rued his luck at being handed such a difficult draw against Tomic, the reigning Australian Open champion. Unsurprisingly, Boluda has been frequently compared to his compatriot Rafael Nadal, who also emerged early as a prodigious talent. News of Boluda and his status as ‘the new Nadal’ had certainly reached Tomic. “Yeah, I heard that too, and he kinda likes to play like Nadal a bit,” said the 15-year-old Australian. “I just came on the court not worrying about those things. My serve helped me; I wasn't playing any good groundstrokes, but I was happy to win like that. I didn't play good tennis, but I managed to serve well, and I won successfully, easily, but hopefully I can come into the next match playing a bit better than I did today. Always the first match is tough to play, so I was happy to get through.”
Tomic is hoping to follow in the long tradition of Australian success at Wimbledon, which last saw a senior champion in 2002 when Lleyton Hewitt took the men’s title. Tomic is top seed at this year’s Junior Championships but insisted that it added no extra expectation. “No, not really, nothing like that, but the pressure will probably develop in the next few rounds as I'm getting closer to the semis and the quarters, but to get there is going to be tough, so I've got concentrate on the next round,” he said. Tomic is currently ranked No.2 on the ITF Junior Rankings, behind Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis and he has made it clear he has designs on the top spot, an ambition he could move closer to with a successful run at Wimbledon. “I haven't hit that No.1 yet, I'm still No.2, but the No.1's not playing, but I'd like to see myself on the No.1 in the juniors, so this tournament can maybe help me there,” he said.
Tomic, who plays either Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia or James Marsalek of Great Britain in the next round, is a relative grass court novice and practices on hard-courts at his training base on Australia’s Gold Coast. As much as he is new to grass, a surface that many players struggle to play on, he says that he already feels very much at home on the turf of the All England Club. “I haven't played much on it, but I always thought I would suit it, because I've got good hands and I like to stay back and hit it pretty flat,” he said. He admits he is still learning though, and sees his time at Wimbledon as an opportunity to expand his range of skills. “I do see it as my chance to win it, but hopefully the two years now to come is the most important of my career, so this is where I can develop my career big-time so that's what I'm going to be aiming for,” he said.
In other results, boys’ eighth seed Marcelo Arevelo of El Salvador was knocked out in a 6-4, 6-1 win by Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; while Peerakit Siributwong of Thailand, seeded twelfth, was beaten in three sets by Great Britain’s Daniel Evans.
In the girls’ draw, fourth seeded Romanian Elena Bogdan was routed by France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the opening round and eighth seed Kurumi Nara of Japan lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 to Marta Sirotkina of Russia. Great Britain’s Naomi Broady beat seventh seed Ana Bogdan 6-3, 7-6.
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