Tomic's secret weapon
Posted by RSVP on
Bernard Tomic has a new secret weapon off the court after joining forces with fitness guru Rudolf Sopko.The pair has bunkered down in a Gold Coast gym since early March, working on strengthening and conditioning Tomic's body for the rigours of senior competition.
Sopko has worked with track and field athletes at the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) for over 15 years and been to the last four Olympic Games with Australia's athletics team.
Sopko met and briefly worked with the teenager four years ago at a junior training camp. At the time, Tomic's father, John, pledged to one day again call upon Sopko's services and earlier this year Tomic Snr delivered on the promise.
"I remember John said, 'Maybe I will call you one day' and after two years he rang me and I thought after 15 years at the NSWIS, let's go to something else. This guy is a good challenge for me. It's tough and hard but it's a good challenge," Sopko told tennis.com.au.
After a few introductory weeks working full-time with the 16 year old, Sopko is astounded by Tomic's natural athletic ability and cannot speak highly enough of his potential to reach the top.
"This guy has so much potential, I've been coaching track and field for the past 27 years, I've been to four Olympic Games, World Junior Championships, I've been everywhere but this guy has so much potential," he said.
"He has so much energy inside so I'm thinking if he can survive another two or three years in this condition then he will be a really, really good player."
Sopko is acutely aware of how important the next few years will be for Tomic's physical development and has geared his training towards increasing the Queenslander's strength and mobility.
Despite having worked with tennis players for the past two years at the NSWIS, Sopko said training Tomic was starkly different to his previous work.
"He's got great structure in his brain and a lot of direction because he knows where he is going, he is only 16 but he has incredible agility and ability," he said.
"Compared with another tennis player or another athlete, I haven't seen a similar body or similar person or similar athlete at age 16."
"He needs his core, the middle part of the body and what I call the engine. The next step is very important to build up his leg exercises because all his leg power is connected with landing and push-offs so all this training will give him better running and better connection with the ball and better reach to get the ball back."
"His upper body is all right, it just needs a bit of strength but it's mainly his core and lower body."
In March, Tomic became the third youngest player in history to win an ATP Challenger Tour title when he won the USD$50,000 Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh, Victoria.
Since January, he has jumped almost 400 places in the rankings to No.382, making him the youngest player in the men's top 500.
The Tomic family will soon re-locate to the USA where Bernard will utilise Nick Bollettieri's IMG Academy in Florida as a training base.
Sopko is hopeful he can use some of his athletics coaching experience and adapt it to assist Tomic's burgeoning professional tennis career.
"I'm trying to teach him a bit of my expertise in track and field because basically with tennis you also have to be a good athlete," he said.
"I compare his body to a 400 metres runner because it's the hardest event in track and field. You can't sprint from the beginning and finish in 100 metres, you need good speed endurance. Tennis is also speed endurance, because it's fast and quick and you need endurance because you have to play for two hours in a row."
"I've told Bernard 'I will coach you like an athlete' because athletics is definitely going to help him become a better tennis player."