Roger was right. Of course he was right, Roger is only wrong when he spruiked his chances against Rafa, but other than that he gets his foppish hair falling to the right Hugh Grant side, his socks are at a righteous height and he chooses the correct cheeses to blend in a fondue. 
So of course Federer knew what he was saying: Bernie is not there yet. Talk is cheap, wins are dearer, and as competitive as Tomic was he was still unable to take as much as a set from Andy Murray who beat him 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 in Melbourne last night.
Tomic might figure on being better than world number 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or number nine Richard Gasquet, maybe even ahead of Tomas Berdych at six but not yet and plainly they are also another step away from world No.2 Murray who was pushed but remained composed.
It was a competitive straight sets loss, but it was none the less in the end a straight sets loss.
Tomic is getting closer, but Federer was right this was the time to prove bona fides by at least winning a set if not the match. Those others in the top 10 like Tsonga, Berdych and Gasquet might be as far from Andy Murray at number two as Tomic chided Roger Federer - at three in the world - for being from No.1 Novak Djokovic but that was irrelevant this night. This night he was the one playing Murray and the gulf was sufficient.
The first game of the first set established the tone: Tomic broken on serve. He could never recover the handicap and the first set was gone. The second start began the same way. Tomic spent the first two sets on his back foot.
Roger was not Nostradamus here - Murray had never lost to an Australian in 16 previous matches so a win was hardly a surprise, particularly for the world number two.
Tomic made him work, and earned respect for his dogged competitiveness - not a trait always associated with him.
The Scot was reliably cranky, getting distracted and angry in the first set because someone in his coaches' box was using their phone and not concentrating. In the environment of match fixing, to say nothing of an ill step father, getting angry about using a phone was a curious complaint. It passed and his concentration returned.
As Murray hurried towards a win on the nearby other court another Brit, not a Scot but another of those Isles, Jo Konta, became the first British woman to reach a grand slam quarter final since 1984. And we report this on Australia Day when flags with that country's flag adorn ours. God save their Queen.
The third set was a more balanced affair after Tomic despite being broken early was able to get the game back on even terms. He battled it into a tie-breaker.