'Incredibly dicey': Stunning twist after Bernard Tomic cops massive fine
A number of players have come to Bernard Tomic’s defence after the controversial Aussie was stripped of his first round prize money at Wimbledon.
Tomic was docked his entire £45,000 ($81,000) Wimbledon prize money on Thursday for tanking in his first round match which was over in just 58 minutes.
However the decision was blasted as "outrageous" by equally fiery compatriot Nick Kyrgios.
"I don't agree with fining the guy all of his prize money. He earned his right to be in the draw," said Kyrgios.
"He played the whole year. He's obviously winning enough to be at the most prestigious tournament in the world. To take all his prize money I think is outrageous."
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The controversial Tomic, who has previously been accused of not trying in his career, lost 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to France's Jo-Wilfried 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," the All England Club said in a statement.
The best-of-five-sets match against Tsonga was the shortest men's match at the tournament so far 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 No.96 Tomic, who was a top 20 player in 2011 when he reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Tsonga was also critical of the penalty, saying he felt like it devalued the way he played.
“It’s like what I did was not win. It’s like I was just here and I just won because, they said, he didn’t play enough,” Tsonga said.
New York Times writer Ben Rothenberg was also supportive of Tomic.
“You shouldn’t get docked pay retroactively for unproductivity, that’s not how any desk job works that I know of,” he tweeted.
“If tennis wants to ‘fire’ Tomic, that’s another question, but not paying him at all for his time is incredibly dicey turf to me.
“Winning seven games against Tsonga is by no means a poor enough performance to merit getting 0 per cent of your pay.
“Style points have never been a part of tennis. You either win or you lose. You get paid either way.”
It won't be, but to me, this Tomic fine should be the strongest catalyst for a players union yet.
A body representing the players would never allow for a guy to do his job to completion and then have his pay left up to the tournament's subjective whims.#Wimbledon— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 4, 2019
Tatishvili fined at French
Tomic is not be the first player to be fined for alleged lack of effort in recent weeks.
Anna Tatishvili of the United States was stripped of her first round prize money at Roland Garros for "not playing at a professional standard".
She lost to Greece's 33rd-ranked Maria Sakkari, 6-0, 6-1 in 55 minutes -- only three minutes fewer than Tomic who had played a set more.
Tatishvili had returned to competition following a 31-month absence due to a serious ankle injury and multiple surgeries.
Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens said she was concerned that tournaments were acting unilaterally on the issue.
"If the tournaments are going to be their own judge and say they're going to do that, then I can't say I'm 100 percent onboard," said the American.
"I saw some of the Tatishvili match. She played Sakkari. She's not playing a scrub.
"There's a back story about her 'protected ranking' and being forced to play basically or you lose it, there is a lot of that that goes into it.
"It's a very slippery slope."
with AFP
