Australian Tomic is fined for not meeting ‘professional standards’
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic was fined his full prize money of US$56,500 at Wimbledon on Thursday for not meeting “the required professional standards” in his first-round loss.
Tomic, a quarter-finalist in 2011, lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday — a match that lasted only 58 minutes.
“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. Tomic can appeal the decision. After the loss, Tomic was asked if he was happy with the effort he put in.
“Next question, please,” was his answer.
He was later asked about being fined $15,000 at the All England Club in 2017 for saying during a news conference that he was “a little bit bored out there” after losing a match. Tomic declined to answer. Fines for a lack of effort are on the rise in tennis following the introduction of a performance rule in 2018 that aims to deter players who enter tournaments while injured from retiring during first-round matches.
American player Anna Tatishvili was fined $50,000 at this year’s French Open after a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Maria Sakkari of Greece. Tatishvili, who has appealed, had been playing in her first competition since October 2017 because of an ankle injury.
Mischa Zverev was fined $45,000 at the ’18 Australian Open. He retired from his match against Hyeon Chung in the second set, citing a viral illness.
Sloane Stephens, who won the ’17 U.S. Open title and reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in ’13, said she wasn’t convinced it was fair for event organizers to decide if a player had tried or not.
Tomic was asked if he had any issues with his preparation for the match at Wimbledon.
“No,” he said. “Just played terrible.”