I’m a tennis player, get me out of here: Bernard Tomic is lost for words

PARIS: Australian firebrand Bernard Tomic was left winless this year after crashing out of the French Open on Monday and then rendered almost speechless when it came to his media duties.

After losing 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to Argentinian Marco Trungelliti, who had driven 1,000km from Barcelona to play the first-round tie, Tomic then conducted a surly news conference with exasperated reporters.

“So how do you assess that today?,” asked a journalist. “Well, it was okay, no.” What about Wimbledon where he was a quarter-finalist in 2011 and seemingly had the world at his feet? “Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see what’s next,” replied 25-yearold Tomic, fiddling with his baseball cap and shuffling in his seat.

His most considered reply on Monday stretched to a comparatively epic 11 words.

That was when he was asked for his feelings on facing Trungelliti who was still referred to only as a ‘lucky loser’ on the schedule until he signed in as a replacement for original opponent Nick Kyrgios, the Australian compatriot of Tomic who had withdrawn with an injury.

“Yeah. But it changed, then I had to play. That’s it.” And so on... and so on.

“Well,” said another reporter sweating over the space he had to fill with Tomic’s gems.

“Have you reflected on your place in tennis? On your desire? Are you in this primarily for financial reasons or do you want to do other things?” Now surely this was Tomic’s moment, to offer a deeper perspective on the troubles which have seen his ranking tumble to 206 and condemened him to exile from Australia’s Davis Cup team.