Tomic v Groth: Back to school is Pat Rafter's way

How that new edict would have played out in Tomic's case, no one can say, of course, and here is not the place to recycle the youthful indiscretions of the 22-year-old Queenslander. Suffice to say that he appears – finally –  to have found the right way forward: into an Australian Open third round against Sam Groth that will guarantee the host nation a presence in the fourth.

"He's getting it now, but we would have hoped that he was a bit more grounded when he was 16, 17, 18," said Rafter, when asked about Tomic as a hypothetical sliding-doors case study of the new policy designed to produce more rounded, better-adjusted players and people. "I'd like to think he could have handled those situations slightly differently."

But, repeat, he's getting it now, and the results – as they so often do in Australia, in January – are showing. Double-hip surgery 12 months ago has freed Tomic's movement; a diligent pre-season helped, too. From most accounts, he is less distracted, more focused. Adversity can be a forceful teacher, and talented young rivals an extra motivating force.

"This is the tennis I've been waiting to play down here in Melbourne," said Tomic, a first-round retiree against Rafael Nadal last year. "I'm happy the way we're going. In round three now. I think when I was 18 I was in the third round; I think 19 I was fourth round; I think [at 20, in 2013] I made it to the third round. So getting in the third round for me after last season, I'm so happy. I try to push for more wins."

That, he joked after a four-set defeat of 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, might be to raise his own serve-and-volley quotient against a net-rushing throwback to the wooden racquet age. Nah, said Tomic a little later. Perhaps not. But he does have options. And what he expects from his much-improved opponent, is a difficult match, but a good one.

"He's going to be throwing a lot of stuff at me, coming forward, serve-volleying, and I have to focus on my serve. I'm serving very well the last few weeks," Tomic said. "That's going to put more pressure on his serve. Obviously I'm going to try to use my experience against Sam. It's not easy. He's playing the tennis of his life."

Groth, indeed, is a relative novice at the top level, winning his first grand slam match at last year's US Open, his direct main draw entry at Melbourne Park also a new thing. A round two defeat of Thanasi Kokkinakis was a watershed in many ways for the world's fastest server, whose graphite bow now has multiple strings. First five-set win. First grand slam third round. First second round at the Australian Open. "Yeah, I'm inexperienced but I'm loving every minute of it at the moment."

Groth says he is now better able to keep his emotions in check, and is more mature – as he should be, at 27, he quips – than the man who was never quite fit or dedicated enough, took time off after shoulder surgery and a marriage bust-up in 2011 to play footy with the Vermont Eagles Reserves, then realised it was tennis he wanted. Eventually, a changed man found his way back to the game, where his finishing school was run by coach Ben Mathias and conditioner Aaron Kellett.

Physically, now, Groth is equipped to go five sets, recalling his cramps three games into the second set against Mardy Fish here in 2009. He is now where he feels he belongs, with a game that can trouble who typically face something else. He is moving and volleying well, building pressure.

"I think I have got a good all-round game now and I think I pose a problem for guys because it's something they don't see. They've got games where they don't hit balls on my service games. Then all of a sudden at four-all, five-all, if you're going to hit passes, it doesn't make it easy."

Groth has come through the hard way, never the chosen one, or the most talented, but if Hisense Arena is a fair way from the Vermont Reserves, it is also a vast distance from the grasscourts of Corowa and Albury, where the self-described "country boy" who dreamed of playing on the big courts, and has now found his way there, had his first lessons.

Footnote: Groth's mother Melinda reports that her son completed year 11 at Xavier High in North Albury, then moved to Melbourne, where he was home-schooled while he boarded with family friends. School of life, of course, is another matter, and whether he or Tomic celebrate a third-round graduation on Friday, the welcome mathematical certainty is that there will be at least one Australian in the last 16.