Bernard Tomic’s hopes of playing in a first Australian Open main draw match for five years were ended by Great Britain’s Arthur Fery.
Earlier this week, Tomic defeated Hugo in the first round of Australian Open qualifying, securing his first win at the tournament for five years.
The Australian player, a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, was defeated 6-4, 6-2 by Fery in the second round on Wednesday.
Speaking of Fery, the British 23-year-old will face 14th seed Dino Prizmic in the final round of qualifying.
Pick your Australian Open dark horse!
Prizmic, of Croatia, recently competed in the 2025 Nex Gen Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Bernard Tomic’s poor Australian Open record
Tomic’s loss to Fery was the latest in a long line of disappointing Australian Open results over the last decade.
Tomic qualified for the main draw every year between 2009 and 2017, reaching the fourth round on three occasions.
Since then, Tomic has only played three main draw matches in Melbourne.
In 2018, Tomic was knocked out of the event in the final round of qualifying by Lorenzo Sonego. A year later, Tomic qualified directly for the main draw, but was defeated in the first round by Marin Cilic – the 2014 US Open champion.
In 2020, Tomic lost in the first round of qualifying to Denis Kudla.
In 2021, the Australian won three matches in qualifying before defeating Yuichi Sugita in the main draw. He then lost to Denis Shapovalov in straight sets.
Tomic has failed to qualify for the main draw since; losing in qualifying in 2022, 2025 and 2026. Tomic did not compete at the event in 2023 and 2024.
As for Arthur Fery [pictured below], his latest win against Tomic will strengthen his hopes of qualifying for the main draw in Australia.
The 23-year-old has been in good form at the start of 2026, winning three of his four matches.
Bernard Tomic’s top 100 goal
It has been a long road back for Tomic, who fell out of the world’s top 800 players in 2022.
The Australian player, who was once heralded as a future star of the sport, has increased his ranking significantly since then, and is now the 184th highest-ranked player on the ATP Tour.
However, the Australian star has greater ambitions than breaking into the top 200.
After defeating Hugo Dellien earlier this week, Tomic told the Australian Open: “I figured out a way to challenge myself, get back to the top 100 from 900 at that stage.
“It’s still going to be tough. Let’s see if I can do it. That’s my goal.”
He added: “It’s something that’s been a goal, to qualify at a Grand Slam again. To have a run at a Grand Slam, maybe at Wimby [Wimbledon] or here.
Joao Fonseca will be the man to unsettle Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s duopoly over men’s tennis – Prove us wrong!
“I know I’m still good enough to compete with these top guys. It’s just a matter of the surface and the conditions, everything has to lay out for me.”
