Arrested Development

Ahhh John  Tomic. You are such a classy individual. Not only have you raised a son who has been a complete embarrassment success so far in Bernard, but now we can add your recent assault arrest to your sparkling resume. For those who haven't heard, Mr. Tomic was arrested prior to the tournament in Madrid for allegedly head butting and assaulting Bernard's hitting partner Thomas Drouet. Apparently, as the story goes, the assault was in response to Thomas disagreeing with John previously striking Bernard in Monte Carlo and stepping in between them again in Madrid. Up until this point, I had been content to lump John Tomic in the group of overbearing tennis parents that includes Melanie Molitor, Stefano Capriati and Richard Williams. However, now that he has graduated to assault, he gets to join an even loftier club. John Tomic, I would like to welcome you the the Insane Tennis Parent Club (ITPC)! Fellow members include Marinko Lucic (reported in 1998 as beating daughter Mirjana to help her focus), Jim Pierce (assaulted fans, beat daughter Mary and threatened her) and Damir Dokic (called officials "Nazis", ejected for fighting over cost of a plate of fish at US Open). Congratulations John for this tremendous achievement! Not only are you apparently a man who has no boundaries, but you are also well on your way to instilling your attitude and behavior into Bernard (see his recent run of great choices.) I applaud the ATP suspending John's tournament credentials and I hope it becomes more than temporary.

Parents, there is a lesson to be learned here. Tennis has a long history (just like any sport) of parents living out their own dreams and desires vicariously through their children. The results have ranged from the burnout and loathing of the sport experienced by Jennifer Capriati and Andre Agassi as a result of their parents to the actual outbursts of violence listed above. I think it is time for these parents to truly see the ripple effect their actions have on their own kids. I  for one hope that Tennis Australia suspends their funding of Bernard if he continues to use his father as his coach after this string of incidents. These people need to be directly shown that their actions not only negatively impact themselves but their children as well. For now, I encourage parents to encourage balance in their players lives. Make sure that when your child steps onto the court, it is their dream their are living and not yours. I'd prefer to limit the Insane Tennis Parent Club to the current members only.

Happy Tuesday!