Four years since Novak Djokovic put a stop to the then 18-year-old Bernard Tomic’s incredible run in London, the two will meet again at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club this coming Friday. Djokovic, who beat Tomic, 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5, in the quarterfinal round of the 2011 Wimbledon, is coming off a straight-sets victory over Jarkko Nieminen. Tomic, meanwhile, also had an easy victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round.
Read on as we preview this third-round matchup. Find out more about Wimbledon’s other third-round fixtures with our previews of Wawrinka vs. Verdasco and Raonic vs. Kyrgios.
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Novak Djokovic vs. Bernard Tomic Betting Preview
Where: All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon
[sc:Other240banner ]Djokovic found himself down 3-1 in the first set in his second round clash against Jarkko Nieminen. But then he remembered that he’s the No. 1 player in the world. It was smooth sailing for the Serb from then on, as he defeated Nieminen, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, to set up a third round date against Tomic.
Over the 92-minute match against Nieminen, Djokovic won five of 12 break point chances, put 68 percent of his first serves into play, and won 45% of his receiving points. Djokovic committed 13 unforced errors, quite an improvement from the 21 he had in his first round encounter against Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Djokovic’s terrific form against Nieminen is something that he’ll have to carry into the third round. But if there’s one thing Djokovic certainly has in his bag entering the match against Tomic, it is confidence, as he is 3-0 lifetime against the Australian.
Look for Djokovic to be extra aggressive against Tomic. Tomic visibly had trouble handling his previous opponents when they rush the net, as evidenced by his opponents’ 73% success rate when attacking to the center. Djokovic, on the flipside, won an amazing 87% of his net point opportunities against Nieminen.
Now comes the hard part for Bernard Tomic. After eking out a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round, Tomic finds himself on a collision course with the best player in the world.
Against Herbert, Tomic weathered 21 aces from the Frenchman, mostly by maximizing his first serve opportunities. Tomic put 72% of his first serves into play and won 82% of his first serve chances. He also did well on second serves, converting 20 of his 29 second serve chances.
But Tomic can’t expect to gain success against Djokovic if he fails to find a fix to his poor return game. In his match against Herbert, Tomic managed to win just 28% of his receiving points. That’s a significant step down from the 40% success rate of Tomic’s return game in the first round against Jan-Lennard Struff. Thus far in the tournament, Tomic only has six return games won.
Tomic is 0-12 against the Big Four (Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray) in his career.
