Bernard Tomic says he’s confident going into his third-round match against Roger Federer at the Australian Open because he’s won all 10 of his matches this year.
"This is the perfect time to play him,” Tomic said. “ I've got a good attitude to win. I've beaten a lot of good players over the last past two weeks, especially Novak [Djokovic at the Hopman Cup exhibition]. I think I can do it. I'm ready. I'm not going to say, I don't have the belief. I do have the belief now. It's possible. I showed that in Perth, that you can beat these players. Now I'm going to try to beat him. The most important thing against someone like that, against Roger, if I do play him, is that I've got to hold and keep it close within the first set. If I keep it close in the first set, manage to win that first set, then it can be a different story.
Federer beat the 20-year-old Tomic 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, in the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open and followed that with a straight-sets sweep in Cincinnati last summer. Federer said that Tomic isn’t the type of young player who is going to freeze up on the big stage.
“I think Davis Cup was the first time. He took a set off me there,” the Swiss said. “He wasn't too impressed. There's certain characters and certain players that have an easier time to play against good players. I was one of those as well. In '98, I didn't believe I was going to beat Agassi in Basel, but I believed I maybe could hang with him for a bit, and I did. I won five games. Then six months later I beat Moya in Marseille, and he was four in the world and two months later he was No. 1 in the world. I was also a big believer I could win. Then there's other players who are much more overwhelmed by an occasion like that. To me, he seems to be more of a guy that likes to be on center court, playing against the top guys, feels like he belongs there. I think it's going to be make it easier for him to play me.”