Former quarter-finalist Bernard Tomic believes he can again be a Wimbledon force despite admitting he “screwed up” his big chance to reach the French Open third round for the first time.

Tomic blew three match points and a 5-2 fifth-set advantage against Australian Davis Cup teammate Thanasi Kokkinakis to crash out of the claycourt slam in a 3-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 8-6 defeat on Thursday.

“I haven’t been that healthy for the last three weeks, but I had a chance today. It was on my racquet but unfortunately I couldn’t do it,” Tomic said.

“I had the ball in the hand, serving for it, couldn’t have asked for a better way to win but I kind of screwed up in the end …. it’s playing on my worst surface.

“But now it is going to be good for grass. This is where I can do well.”

Tomic has risen to 24th in the provisional world rankings, enough to ensure he wouldn’t run into anyone in the world’s top eight until the fourth round at Wimbledon.

But he is hoping officials will elevate him and countryman Nick Kyrgios, provisionally ranked 25th ahead of his third-round clash in Paris with Andy Murray on Saturday, in the seedings because of their strong records at the All England Club.

“Obviously Wimbledon can seed me higher, where I’ve done well in the past – fourth round, quarter-finals – so I think they will,” Tomic said.

“There’s still dangerous floaters, but it’s going to be my best surface.”

The 22-year-old’s priority is recovering from a back injury that restricted his movement at Roland Garros.

“I need to get a few injections in my back, which I’ve never done before,” Tomic said.

“It has been a problem I have had the last few months which, surprisingly, I have dealt with it and played with it, which has been interesting for me.

“Hopefully that goes away after three or four days because I have been suffering a lot of pain, (lost) a lot of rotation, missing on my shots.”

Tomic will prepare for Wimbledon at two grasscourt lead-up events in Germany – the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart straight after the French Open and the Gary Weber Open in Halle from June 15.