London: Australia’s Bernard Tomic was stripped of his entire £45,000 Wimbledon prize money on Thursday for tanking his first round match which was over in just 58 minutes, officials announced.
The controversial Tomic, who has been accused of not trying previously in his career, lost 2-6, 1-6, 4-6 to France’s JoWifried Tsonga on Tuesday. “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 which will be deducted from prize money,” said a statement by the All England Club.
The best-of-five sets match against Tsonga was the shortest at the tournament and the second quickest overall after Elise Mertens’ 48-minute win over Fiona Ferro in the best-of-three women’s event. “I think I played as best as I could. It’s just I played terrible,” said the world number 96 Tomic.
He has often been dubbed ‘Tomic the tank engine’ by a critical Australian media. When he was asked if he was happy with the effort he was making on court at Wimbledon, he snapped: “Next question please.”
Tomic has run foul of the Wimbledon authorities in the past.
