LONDON: Australia’s Bernard Tomic was entertaining a capacity Centre Court crowd at Wimbledon yesterday but in the legendary venue’s shadow out on Court 15, his younger sister Sara (pictured) was taking some early steps in her quest to eclipse him.
Aged 15, Sara Tomic was the first player knocked out of the juniors, losing 6-1, 6-0 to Estonia’s 13th seed Anett Kontaveit.
However, she has set her sights on making sure she is the most famous tennis player in the family.
“I always looked up to him when I was young,” Tomic said.
“I hope to be better than him one day, certainly. He gives me a lot of advice.
“It’s different when you have a brother like that, someone at the top level and I hope that I can learn from him in each and every way, every day.
“I’m definitely grateful and I wouldn’t change anything. I’m so happy with all the things I’ve got just from being his sister. But I want to be my own person and hopefully one day I can.”
Though she can see similarities with her brother’s playing style, Sara Tomic is modelling herself more on world number one Serena Williams.
“We have the same backhand for sure. We grew up with the same coach so we do have similar technique but I’m more of a power player. The reason why I want to go professional is because of Serena.”
She wears one of the Wimbledon champion’s custom-made jackets and said she “started crying” when she received it.
“She’s such a killer on the court. I’m having problems with it. I hope can turn things around and try and be a killer on the court, an attack player. So far I’m not at that point where it’s good enough.
“I want to be number one but there are so many things I need to work on.”
Sara Tomic is in London for the first time and is enjoying her debut Wimbledon experience.
“Even just walking around was special, seeing all the people, kids, fans waiting for all the top players. I hope I can be there one day and I really feel this is where I want to be,” she said. AFP
