Bernard Tomic’s 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Wimbledon first round on Tuesday lasted all of 58 minutes. Unsurprisingly, Tomic was fined two days later for failing to perform at a professional standard.
Tournament officials released the following statement:
“The Grand Slam Rule Book regarding First Round Performance states the following:
‘All players are expected to perform to a professional standard in every Grand Slam match. With respect to First Round Performance, if in the opinion of the Referee the player did not perform to the required professional standard, the Referee may determine that the player be subject to a fine of up to first round prize money.’
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, and therefore he has been fined the maximum amount of £45,000 which will be deducted from prize money.
The player will have the opportunity to appeal to the Director, GSB.”
The 26-year-old Australian surely saw punishment coming, and was asked about it during his post-match press conference.
“Are you feeling okay,” he was asked.
“Well, yeah, I just played terrible,” Tomic responded.
He was then asked–in various forms–about his effort level.
In between declining to answer certain questions, the world No. 96 had this to say: “Well, I returned pretty bad. Didn’t see his serve. Pretty terrible match…. Tough first round. I knew if I didn’t feel good I’d lose this match quickly. We played so fast. It’s not like we’re gonna have a lot of rallies out there, for sure.”
When asked if he has the same passion for tennis as he did when he was younger, Tomic replied, “Yes.”
And did he think he would get fined for a lack of effort? “I think I played as best as I could. It’s just I played terrible.”
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