Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Bernard Tomic, for so long the problem boy of Australian tennis before Nick Kyrgios let the world know his credentials for the title, believes he has turned the corner towards sensible maturity and no longer sees money as his prime motivation.

2015 has been another tumultuous year for Tomic with a shock outburst against Tennis Australia at Wimbledon that led to a suspension from the Davis Cup team and a Miami hotel arrest that later saw the case thrown out of court. Now, up to a highest career ranking of 20 and just a few days short of his 23rd birthday, he is showing a degree of sensibility is creeping into his planning.

He has decided to forgo the earning potential of three weeks playing on the International Premier Tennis League (ITPL) in December, which would have brought him something in the region of US$150,000, and instead concentrate on fitness work before the new season.

“I have to get stronger and that’s the only way for me next year,” Tomic told Fairfax Media in Australia. “If I want, at the start of 2016, to become top ten, I have to play well in those first few months. So that’s a sacrifice I need to do. I need to train in December.

“I need to focus on what I need to do to get better. The money obviously is there; if you’re playing well, obviously it’s going to be coming like this. But me, I’m not too focused now about that and that’s one of the reasons why it’s obviously been my best year so far.”

Tomic has recently shown his aptitude for victories over big name players having ended the US Open career of his friend and compatriot Lleyton Hewitt over five sets. Then en route to the Shanghai Rolex Masters quarterfinals, where he today was due to meet world no.1 Novak Djokovic, he eliminated both seventh seed David Ferrer and 11th seed Richard Gasquet, exacting revenge not just for his eventual US Open exit but also a series of defeats previously.

He will celebrate his birthday next week after swapping continents to play the IF Stockholm Open and is very much looking to a more settled campaign in 2016. “I had obviously good offers to go and play in this and that, such as the IPTL, and before, I’d go and chase the money. But it’s different now and I’m not going to do that.

“I’m going train as best as I can to do as best as I can in the Australian Open, because I believe with my position and seeding I can do very well.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.