Bad boy Tomic is axed by sponsors

THE maverick Australian Bernard Tomic has been dumped by his racket sponsor Head and hit with the second largest fine in Wimbledon history for admitting that he was ‘bored’ during a straight-sets first-round singles defeat. Tomic, 24, earned a six-figure annual sum from Head, whose indifference to Maria Sharapova’s doping ban led them to celebrate the reduction of her two-year suspension with the hashtag #WeStoodWithMaria in October. But Head declared that they were ‘extremely disappointed with the statements made at Wimbledon’ by Tomic. The player has also been fined $15,000 (£13,191) by the All England Club. Tomic is thought to be bemused by the severity of the punishment, despite provoking outrage by declaring after his defeat to Mischa Zverev that he ‘felt a little bit bored out there’ and admitting he had taken a medical time-out for tactical reasons and not legitimate ones. Though faking a time-out had seemed to be his most serious act of misconduct, it is understood that the All England club were most affronted by a player claiming to be ‘bored’ at their celebrated tournament. It is for this comment that he has been deemed guilty of ‘unsportsmanlike conduct.’ Privately, Tomic (right) insists that he was not expressing disinterest in Wimbledon but in tennis as a whole. He has described before how he struggles for motivation in the sport. Indeed, he declared at an extraordinary press conference on Tuesday: ‘I couldn’t care less if I make a fourth round at the US Open or I lose first round. ‘To me, everything is the same. I’m going to play another ten years and I know after my career I won’t have to work again.’ A statement from sponsors Head added: ‘His opinions in no way reflect our own attitude for tennis, our passion, professionalism and respect for the game. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue our collaboration with Bernard Tomic.’ His fine is even greater than the one which has been handed down to Russian Daniil Medvedev for throwing coins at the umpire’s chair after his defeat to Belgian qualifer Ruben Bemelmans on Wednesday — an act which implied that the official, Mariana Alves, was biased. The 21-year-old, who had earlier created the shock of this year’s tournament so far by knocking out Stan Wawrinka, received a $7,500 (£5,784) fine for his conduct. He received two additional penalties of £4,000 (£3,084) and £3,000 (£2,314) for behaviour during the game — which included asking the court supervisor to remove Ms Alves as umpire late in the fifth set — and he must pay out a total of $14,500 (£11,183).