Tomic must find source of troubles

BERNARD Tomic’s former coach Geoff Masters fears the talented but troubled tennis star has “lost his way”.

The Gold Coast-based Channel 7 tennis commentator said it appeared the 24-yearold’s “heart was not in it” after viewing his three-set loss to 57th-ranked Belgian Steve Darcis in Florida.

“Clearly there is something going on. As to why that is only he knows but certainly he has lost his way and enthusiasm,” Masters said.

“And if his heart is not in it, he has to find out why that’s the case because there is no point playing if your heart is not in it.

“It could be something off court, that’s highly possible that something off court is making life uncomfortable but that would only be speculation.

“But he needs to address whatever it is because at the moment he is not doing himself any favours whatsoever. He needs to decide what the cause of the issue is because you can’t expect to win at that level.”

The sixth-seeded Australian was sent packing from a tournament in the first round for a second consecutive week, after blowing a one-set to love lead over the Belgian to eventually lose 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Tomic had a 4-1 lead in the final set but the Belgian world No.57, who had to go through qualifying, reeled off five straight games to take the match. The loss condemned the Australian world No.31 to his third first-round loss out of four tournaments in 2017, with his only wins coming in the first and second rounds of the Australian Open.

Sam Stosur suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Croatian teen Ana Konjuh in the second round of the Dubai International.