World No. 248 Bernard Tomic will play fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata in the first round of the 2025 ATP Mallorca Open. The match is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24. Here’s our Bernard Tomic vs Rinky Hijikata prediction. This preview will also include a Bernard Tomic vs Rinky Hijikata pick.

Bernard Tomic vs Rinky Hijikata Preview
Bernard Tomic is a former World No. 17 and has won four ATP titles. Tomic has a one Wimbledon quarterfinal to his name, although that was more than a decade ago. He’s now 32 and ranked outside the Top 200 and plays most of his tennis on the Challenger level and ITF Tour. He won a title as recently as last season on the ITF circuit.

Tomic has an 18-16 record this season (at all levels), but it has taken him nearly six months to qualify for an ATP Tour event here at the Mallorca Open, where he is playing in his first grass-court tournament of the year. Tomic won two qualifying matches as an underdog at +230 against Jesper de Jong and +170 against Aleksandar Kovacevic. Tomic will be chasing his first-ever ATP main draw win since 2021.

Rinky Hijikata is the higher-ranked Australian in this matchup. The 24-year-old is 88th in the ATP rankings. Hijikata has been ranked as high as 62 in the past. He is competing in Mallorca for the second time. He lost to Ben Shelton in the last 16 stage last season. Hijikata has compiled a 15-20 record this year and is 3-2 on grass. Hijikata was a semifinalist at the Nottingham Challenger earlier this month and then played the ATP 250 in Den Bosch where he lost in the first round to Dan Evans in three sets.

Bernard Tomic vs Rinky Hijikata Head-To-Head
Tomic and Hijikata have never played before. This will be their first meeting.

Bernard Tomic vs Rinky Hijikata Prediction
This should be an interesting all-Aussie first-round in Mallorca, and the bookies are clearly not rating Tomic’s chances highly in this one. The forgotten Australian is now ranked a lowly 248, and he’s not the kind of player you scribble his name when the draw comes out. He’s not won an ATP main draw match in years. He is volatile and largely inconsistent, and there are always question marks about his commitment.

However, I’ve been impressed by what Tomic has achieved already in this tournament, winning two qualifying matches as a heavy underdog. It’s been one of his most assured stretches of compsure in recent memory and I reckon he can keep it up for at least one more round. Tomic has a game built for this surface, and it’s no surprise that his best Grand Slam result was at Wimbledon back in 2011. It’s always a gamble backing Tomic in any match, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here. It’s grass after all, and Tomic has shown flashes of his old magic.

Nur Said's Pick: Bernard Tomic in three sets