Rafter says Tomic is not a great athlete..

[Tennis_Stringman]

"One thing I worry about Tomic is he's probably not a very good athlete,'' Rafter said of the 213th-ranked Tomic. "He may be because he's only 17 but he's tall and lanky and I haven't seen any signs of him being a great athlete yet.

"But what he's got is a lot of skills a lot of other players don't even have. I believe he's a top 50 player but these days you have to be a great athlete.'' Rafter is 2-0 and en route to a possible berth in Tuesday night's final againt John McEnroe. McEnroe, 51, who warmed up for his night match against Andres Gomez by hitting with James Blake, the seventh seed of the ITC.

 

[Bud]

"One thing I worry about Tomic is he's probably not a very good athlete,'' Rafter said of the 213th-ranked Tomic. "He may be because he's only 17 but he's tall and lanky and I haven't seen any signs of him being a great athlete yet.

"But what he's got is a lot of skills a lot of other players don't even have. I believe he's a top 50 player but these days you have to be a great athlete.'' Rafter is 2-0 and en route to a possible berth in Tuesday night's final againt John McEnroe. McEnroe, 51, who warmed up for his night match against Andres Gomez by hitting with James Blake, the seventh seed of the ITC.

He took Cilic to 5 sets in the 2010 AO. He can't be too bad of an athlete.

 

[raging]

He took Cilic to 5 sets in the 2010 AO. He can't be too bad of an athlete.

Rafter is just addressing what coaches in Oz already know after 4, 5 years(and tour coaches the last 2) : Tomic is a "hitter" and reads the play very well, that has made him very successful in juniors and he has also had some good wins, performances at Open (AO) level.
But the jury is still out on whether he can make the transition...given he has had a huge growth spurt the last 12 months and has struggled with co-ordination and worked very hard to balance this with his strength and movement coaches. What Rafter is saying essentially is that he is not a natural athlete, mover and that is what makes a top player. He is probably judging it on his own high standards where his athletic ability saved him when technically he maybe wasn't the best!:twisted:
To be fair though, Rafter is probably talking top 5 or top 10 (you would have to check the context of the interview), and that is very hard to predict with a 17year old...with everyone watching. How Bernard deals with that mentally and physically will determine how successful he is.
Tomic is certainly lanky and because of the sudden growth, going to have to be very careful with his physical preparation over the next 3, 4 years. If he manages that well he can establish himself in the top 50. Whether or not he can stay there will be another matter!

 

[lawrence]

He took Cilic to 5 sets in the 2010 AO. He can't be too bad of an athlete.

He's saying athlete in the sense of: speed, agility, strength, flex, etc. Like physical attributes. Not necessarily just in the endurance department.

 

[Deleted member 22147]

He doesn't look like a very good mover, he'll probably grow a little bit more too. He'll be another 6'5'' + guy so there is no surprise if he's not very agile.

His game bores me to death anyway, his forehand is really ugly.

 

[petetheileet]

Rafter expressed these concerns about 18 months ago also

look at our last 4 top notch players

Hewitt
Rafter
Phillipousis
Cash

you can see why Rafter places a bit of importance on being an athlete

no?