Nakamura was hired by Tennis Australia to work full-time with Tomic in December, five months after a frustrated Sopko quit and then questioned the gifted young Queenslander's commitment to developing the physical side of his game.
Even Tomic acknowledges that his movement is the area most in need of improvement if he is to fulfil his obvious potential at senior level and, for a time at least, Nakamura was thought to be an ideal fit. He had spent six years as director of player performance at Nick Bollettieri's IMG Academy in Florida, working with the likes of Maria Sharapova and Tommy Haas, and bonding with Tomic during the Australian's six-month stint at the academy last year - while also appearing to win the early approval of the teenager's father and principal coach, John.
Indeed, by January, Tomic junior was already describing the 37-year-old Nakamura as his closest friend on the tour - even as others were privately wondering how long the new employee would last. Not very, appears to be the answer.
"Bernard is working with his dad on the Gold Coast,'' said Todd Woodbridge, Tennis Australia's head of men's tennis, while confirming that Nakamura was now being employed to work with Davis Cup squad members Chris Guccione, Carsten Ball and Matt Ebden in the US.
Tomic, 17, a former No. 1 junior whose senior ranking of 223rd is 14 places below its February peak, last month won his way through Wimbledon qualifying for the first time.
Nakamura, like Sopko, was intent on building his speed, strength and flexibility to help Tomic compete with the increasing athleticism of the men's game, a process he said would take two or three years to achieve.
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