Tomic run tainted by terse exit

BERNARD Tomic has turned on himself once again in a sour aftermath to his first- round French Open exit at Roland Garros.

Tomic shot down suggestions he was only playing tennis for money as he cut not so much a dejected but petulant figure following his 6- 4 5- 7 6- 4 6- 4 loss to Argentine battler Marco Trungelliti.

While Trungelliti rejoiced in penning the feel- good story of the tournament, having driven 10 hours from Barcelona to Paris on the eve of the match just to play as a lucky loser from qualifying, Tomic delivered another PR disaster in a sulky postmatch press conference.

The 25- year- old offered up a total of 64 words in response to 10 questions from an international tennis media eager to gain an insight into the mind of one of the sport’s most talented stars and biggest enigmas.

“Yeah, I guess I was OK,” Tomic said when asked if his gruelling run of seven wins on European clay had taken a toll on him.

“Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see what’s next,” when asked if he could take renewed confidence into his preferred grass- court season.

“It is what it is. That’s all I can say,” when quizzed about his attire, in a veiled reference to the former Wimbledon quarter- finalist losing sponsorships following his claim that he was “a little bit bored” in his firstround loss last year.

When grilled about his desire, Tomic – who has readily admitted he has not given 100 per cent in plenty of matches throughout his turbulent career – was even more curt.

“Next question,” he said when asked: “Are you in this primarily for financial reasons or do you want to do other things?” The bitter postscript was a sad finale to what had been a promising campaign for the one- time world No. 17. Having recorded a career- best seven straight victories on clay over the past three weeks, after being winless since January, Tomic could have departed Paris with optimism – and dignity.