The great white hope of Australian tennis, Bernard Tomic, has admitted he is not doing the hard work required to transform him from talented teenager to grand slam threat.
Tomic paid the price for his slacking off as his form slump continued with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 defeat against Belgian wildcard David Goffin in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old, who reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club in 2011, has failed to get past the second round in 11 of his past 12 tournaments.
It was a disappointing exit for Tomic, given 12 months ago he sent the likes of Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko packing on his way to becoming the youngest player to reach the last eight of Wimbledon since Boris Becker in 1986.
"I have sort of slacked off a little bit and look what it's costing me. It's a lack of concentration, not working hard," Tomic said.
"In the last eight, nine weeks I've lost a lot of first and second rounds when my quality of tennis should be getting to a lot of semifinals, finals or even winning tournaments.
"It's just strange. I've gotten to where I have won very easily and now you let the foot off the pedal and it's costing you. It's something I'll learn from.
"It's a good thing what's actually happened here. I'll wake up and get back to the way I was playing."
After taking the first set easily, Tomic was outplayed by rising star Goffin, who took a set off Roger Federer before losing to the 16-time grand slam champion in the fourth round of the French Open.
Tomic, who was the No. 20 seed at Wimbledon, is likely to fall out of the top 30 because of his poor result.
