By Nick Georgandis
Photo Credit: Creative Commons

It's been 25 years since a player as young as Australia's Bernard Tomic reached the quarterfinals of the men's singles draw at Wimbledon.
The last kid to pull off the stunt? A fellow named Boris Becker, who at the time was not only the defending champion, but also went on to win the tournament again.

Somehow, Tomic seems to be the most overlooked Cinderella story in Wimbledon memory. Perhaps because he's playing 45-1 Novak Djokovic on Wednesday, or because most people just want to get to the semifinals and see if Rafael Nadal's injury means Britain's Andy Murray has half a shot to end the Empire's 76-year title and what Djokovic vs. Roger Federer will entail in their first meeting since King Roger's win in the French Open semis.

Regardless, Tomic, who was born the same year a certain author of this article graduated from high school, has done amazing things to date, despite coming into the tournament's main draw with a 3-6 record in 2011, which earned him the No. 158 spot in the world.
Three weeks ago, Tomic was losing to No. 94 Dudi Sela in the semifinals of the Challenger event at Nottingham. Now he's less than 24 hours from a match against the hottest man on tour, but one he actually has an exhibition win over 18 months ago in Melbourne.

"I have nice words for Bernard," Djokovic said of his young opponent. "He's a cool guy, one of the nicest on the Tour. We played a set before the tournament. He destroyed me! Hopefully that was then and not in the quarterfinal."

After falling in the first round of the main draw a year ago, Tomic has already vastly exceeded everyone's expectations with four straight wins in this year's draw.  Even if he goes down in flames against Djokovic on Wednesday, Tomic has already gained 350 points, which is not too shabby a gain when you consider his current total, 357, is barely higher.
Add them together and Tomic stands to be sitting no lower than 72nd in next Monday's ratings. Nothing like climbing 80-plus spots in the standings for a fortnight's work.

As big a deal as his youth is, Tomic also hails from a country that is passionate about its athletes, and dubiously unimpressed with the pointed lack of champions it has produced of late.
While not to the depths of Great Britain's slump, it's still been a full nine years since Lleyton Hewitt delivered for the Commonweatlh at Centre Court. Before that, it was 15 years since Pat Cash won the crown.  If those two pairs of shoes aren't big enough for one to struggle filling, Tomic and every Australian male tennis player also faces the inevitable comparison to the legendary Rod Laver, who won Wimbledon four times, including twice (1962, 1969) as part of a single-year Grand Slam.

Tomic was actually born in Germany, but moved to Australia with his family at age three. He began playing tennis when he was seven, and is coached by his father, John.
Down Under, Tomic is big news these days, particularly given the way he blasted Robin Soderling just two days after Soderling had broken Hewitt's heart with a five-set rally.

"Anything is possible "trumpets the front page of the Sydney News in Wednesday's pre-quarterfinal edition in regards to Tomic's chances.
It's a quote from the boy wonder himself, who told the local rag, "Anything can happen. Can I win it? That's a big question, it's three matches away. Anything is possible."
The Melbourne Sun is in on the action as well, warning Serbia's favorite son to "Watch Out, Djoker", complete with advice from legendary doubles player Todd Woodbridge to "get under Novak's skin".

Tomis resides in Gold Coast, having moved to Australia at age three with his parents after being born in Germany.
His birthplace of Stuttgart is located 10,072 miles from Gold Coast, but a mere 455 from Wimbledon.
Regardless of what happens on Wednesday, it's starting to appear that the extra miles have been well worth it to Tomic.