Legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri has challenged Bernard Tomic to deliver on his potential at this year’s Australian Open.

Tomic has long been touted as the next big thing in Australian tennis, but Bollettieri has tired of waiting for the 22-year-old to make good on the promise he showed as a teenager.

“I believe that it’s time for Tomic to come awake,” Bollettieri said on Friday.

“He’s got all the tools and I believe he’s got to go out there now and tell himself that he can start winning some big ones.”

Tomic spent four month’s at Bollettieri’s famed IMG Academy – which produced the likes of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Boris Becker – in 2009 before his father John decided to move his son back to the family’s Gold Coast base.

Bollettieri believes Tomic, who has drawn Germany’s Tobias Kamke in the first round, can be a ‘spoiler’ at this year’s Open if he puts his mind to it.

“I believe that he’s beginning to realise that the clock keeps ticking and he has not reached where we all thought that he could reach,” he said.

“I don’t believe that it’s a lack of talent or a lack of groundstrokes. I believe that he’s got to go out there and come awake and be a little bit more aggressive. He needs to show a little bit more emotion.”

Bollettieri suggested Tomic could learn something from the way younger compatriot Nick Kyrgios attacks his game, despite their vastly different temperaments.

“They’re as red and white as red and white can be,” he said of the two players.

“Kyrgios is truly a character, he knows he can do it, he’s fiery and puts a great show on and when Tomic is out there he doesn’t really put fear into the opponent.

“He’s got to look at him and show him that he can do it and he can do it because he’s got the tools.

“It would be a shame for him not to develop into the player that he has the talent to be.”