BAD BOY BERNIE

Excuses are slim for Australia's immature tennis ace, and it's time he grew up and acted like an adult

A boy, a police department and a hideous orange BMW. That's the central cast in the curious case of Bernard Tomic and Queensland Police as reports begin to paint a picture that heavily contrasts the image of the young Australian idol we've come to know in the past two weeks.

On the same day Pat Rafter praised him for his maturity, Bernard Tomic was pulled over three times by Gold Coast police for allegedly breaching driving restrictions in his V8 BMW M3, estimated to be worth around $150,000.

By Australian law, your standard 19 year old would be prohibited from driving such a high-powered vehicle, but Tomic has been granted an exemption that specifies he must only drive to and from his training courts in it. However, if reports are correct, he was seen hooning and doing laps of a Broadbeach restaurant strip with a friend on Australia Day.

While that seems daunting enough, the Aussie ace reportedly refused to stop for the police in their third confrontation in as many hours, instead driving home with the police car tailing and locked himself in his property. Tomic later speculated that police unfairly targetted him on Australia Day because they felt that he wasn't Australia, being of Croatian heritage and born in Germany.

While Tomic's on-court skills have been impressive during this years Australian Open, it's antics like this that have split the Australian public's opinion on him. This particular incident has triggered widespread anger and disappointment, particularly for Tomic's 'above the law' regard of himself. Why he has a special exemption to drive the vehicle at all is above me to begin with, but then he flaunts it publically in a bright orange BMW M3 and is then upset when he receives attention from the authorities over it?

Indeed Tomic is only young and looks destined for a very long and fruitful professional tennis career, but his career trajectory is set for a spectacular collison unless he grows up. Unless he 'pulls his head in', Tomic's clashes will be intensified as his profile and ego grows, and as he ages, the public's going to be even less forgiving then they are right now.

I'm not a Bernard Tomic fan, and I haven't been since his rise to prominence. But I want to be a fan, I want to experience the joy of an Australian winning the Australian Open. So for his sake, my sake and for the rest of Australia, I urge Tomic to grow up before it's too late.