Tomic to end extended break from the game

Bengaluru, August 23: Australia's Bernard Tomic is set to return to competitive action at the US Open, ending an extended absence from the game that has seen his world ranking plummet to 146.

The 24-year-old, once touted a future top 10 player, has not played since Wimbledon where he caused an uproar by declaring himself "bored" with the game after a listless first round defeat to Mischa Zverev.

He sparked further condemnation last month when he told Australian television that he was only in tennis for the money and had won plenty of it even without trying hard.

Tomic's manager told local media that he would play in the Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows and had also entered tournaments in each of the last six weeks of the ATP season.

"He is playing the US Open," Tomic's manager Matthew Fawcett said.

"Following that he is planning to play Chengdu, Tokyo, Shanghai, Antwerp or Stockholm or Moscow, Vienna and Paris."

The US Open opens begins on August 28 in New York.

Tomic has withdrawn from his last four tournaments, pushing his ranking to depths that will require him to battle on lower-tier tours or beg for wildcards from tournament organisers next year.

His top 30 world ranking at the end of last year guarantees him slots at the ATP 500 tournaments in Tokyo and Vienna but he will need to boost his ranking to qualify for the ATP 1000 Masters series events in Shanghai and Paris in October.

Pundits see little chance of Tomic having the required fitness to win best-of-five set matches at the US Open and his childhood coach Neil Guiney told local media last week that he feared Tomic's career was finished.

Tennis Australia's high performance chief Wally Masur said last month he was worried the long-time Davis Cup player was "burnt out."

Reports of his party lifestyle in his Miami base abound in Australian media.

"Bernard is getting to that point where reality is really going to hit him," said Australia's doubles great Todd Woodbridge.