Australian Tennis Player Fined For Playing Below Standard

Australian Tennis Player Fined For Playing Below Standard At Wimbledon

Professional Australian Tennis Player Bernard Tomic was fined 45,000 pounds ($57,000) for not playing to “required professional standards” after he put in minimal effort during a 58-minute, first-round thrashing by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon, organisers said on Thursday.

Fans looked bemused as the 26-year-old world number 96 lost Tuesday’s match 6-2 6-1 6-4, a performance described as “appalling” and “embarrassing” on social media.

“It is the opinion of the referee that the performance of Bernard Tomic in his first round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did not meet the required professional standards.

Therefore, he has been fined the maximum amount of 45,000 pounds which will be deducted from prize money,” organisers said in a statement.

With first-round losers at Wimbledon receiving 45,000 pounds, Tomic exited the tournament empty-handed following his latest run-in with the All England Club’s authorities.

The Australian was fined $15,000 in 2017 after admitting faking an injury during a first-round loss to Mischa Zverev, saying later he was “bored” with Wimbledon.

When asked to sum up his performance on Tuesday, Tomic said: “I played pretty bad.

Asked to elaborate, he said: “I just played terrible,” he said.

It is not the first time Tomic has been in trouble for not trying.

He was nicknamed “Tomic the Tank Engine” after accusations he “tanked” or failed to try his best in a loss to Andy Roddick at the 2012 U.S. Open.

The Australian also broke the record for the quickest loss at a Masters-level tournament on the ATP Tour after being crushed 6-0 6-1 in 28 minutes by Finn Jarkko Nieminen in Miami in 2014.

Tomic also faced match point holding his racket backwards in a defeat by Fabio Fognini at the 2016 Madrid Open.

Tomic, trailing 0-40 as Italian Fognini tried to serve out the match at 6-2 5-4, held his racket by the head with the handle pointing forwards and barely moved as his opponent fired an ace past him to seal victory.

Tomic, who was once hailed as being among the game’s brightest emerging talents, has now lost in the first round of his last three Grand Slams, exiting the French Open in May with a straight-sets defeat in a match lasting 82 minutes.

[Reuters/NAN]