Tomic Shames Professional Tennis

[scoop]

Tennis is a clean and pristine, wondrous sport known for this grace, elegance, and aesthetic violence inside a contained arena. Millions of people spend billions of dollars to play and watch the fascinating game of tennis.

Yesterday the sport of tennis was shamed perhaps worse than it has ever been shamed in over a century. Bernard Tomic tanked his first round match to no. 27 seed Mischa Zverev of Germany, 64 63 64. Long known for his questionable work ethic and desire to compete, the very talented Tomic startled the media with his post match comments.

“It was definitely a mental issue out there,” Bernard Tomic said after losing to Zverev. “I don’t know why, but I felt a little bit bored out there, to be completely honest with you.”

Tomic did not hold back and continued his confession. “So I feel holding a trophy or doing well, it doesn’t satisfy me anymore. It’s not there. I couldn’t care less if I make a fourth-round 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.”

These are unbelievable comments. Tomic does not care if he wins or loses. He finds tennis boring now and he can’t be bothered to give a hundred percent effort anymore. And if you read between the lines, it’s almost like Tomic is saying that he is talented enough to win or lose whenever he wants to maintain his ranking to continue direct entry into tournaments and continue to earn a handsome salary.

Why is he playing and why does he plan to keep playing for another ten years if tennis is so boring?

Would Tomic throw a match to help a friend? No one can answer for sure.

Would Tomic resort to illegal gambling on his own matches? No one can answer for sure.

There are a lot of questions that need to be asked, by the ATP face to face with Tomic.

Legends of the sport like Rennae Stubbs, Pat Cash and Martina Navratilova sharply criticized Tomic yesterday, with Stubbs calling Tomic “an embarrassment to the sport and yourself.”

If the ATP has a contract clause for players about respecting the ATP World Tour and behaving in a manner that does not undermine or embarrass the tour they might want to exercise that clause immediately against Tomic and give him a two year vacation – or perhaps a permanent ban.

If not, then the ATP should amend it’s policy and make it policy that no player should ever speak so disrespectfully about the sport ever again.

Tennis has had enough of Bernard Tomic. And if he does not change his attitude and clean up his act to conduct himself like a professional athlete is expected to, the sooner he is removed from the ATP World Tour, the better.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

It's called 'disaffection'.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Henk writes:

Just another spoilt, too much-too soon tennis-brat whose parents (especially father) never bothered to develop his parental guiding skills. What a complete waste of natural talent. I saw Tomic win the 12's, 14's and 16's Orange Bowl (the latter at age 15!) which, so far, has never been done before. The kid had a no. 20 World junior ranking at 15... but the arrogance already showed at age 16. The different interview statements, including this last one, say enough about the ZERO gratitude for his talent, privileged life and the kind of low class me-first 'human' being he is.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Henk; First time I saw Tomic was at US Open juniors when he was fourteen or fifteen. A lot of Aussie ex pros were out there watching on the outer court 15 area. The kid was a thin as a weed and he had that headband on. Silky smooth effortless way of playing but the word was he had an attitude already back then and Tennis Australia had just sat him out of Roland Garros and or Wimbledon juniors because of behavior. So it's always been an issue with Tomic. The curious part is when the media asked him yesterday about giving his prize money from Wimbledon back for not trying and Tomic oddly mentioned if Federer should give all his money back? It's like Tomic was insinuating that Federer is a tanker or recipient of tanking. What the heck could Tomic have been suggesting? For Tomic to speak so bluntly and disrespectfully about the ATP without fear of payback is curious.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Andrew Miller writes:

Tomic is living his dad's dream. No matter what we say that reality haunts him. I have some sympathy for these uber talented guys who find themselves in the top fifty but hate the sport. Just not much sympathy because, at some point, they either have to ply their talent or decide to do something else. Australia is interesting in this way. None of these guys likes tennis much. They like the trappings like the cars, the status, the money, just not the obligations or the game itself. He'll have to realize the two go together.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Andrew Miller writes:

Just weird two of those guys who love the rewards of the sport but not the sport are Australia's two beat players, both guys under 25. That's why I said that they may not last. There are other young Australians who are going to dethrone them and these guys will lose their perch atop Australian tennis. Suddenly Hewitt wont be as interested in bending over backwards (if they haven't noticed, he's less interested because he's dedicated to the country's tennis talent, which goes beyond tomic and kyrgios). Maybe then they will find their way back through the wilderness of tennis sure things. Or maybe they'll respond to the pressure. Who knows.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Scoop.....Tomic was sent home from Roland Garos as a junior by Tennis Australia for not displaying enough effort at the tournament.

 

[Moxie]

If Tomic's father pushed him like Agassi's did, perhaps he has the same resentment that Andre has admitted to. But Agassi did find his own way to a love and appreciation of the sport. Perhaps Bernie can find some inspiration there. It would be sad if it weren't so galling and infuriating. I hope tennis does sanction him for lack of effort.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Hartt writes:

Tomic also admitted to taking a MTO to try to throw Mischa Zverev off his rhythm in that match. Tomic is now at No. 69 in the live tennis rankings. So already he will need to play qualies to get into the upcoming Masters tourneys. Perhaps his low ranking will take care of the situation - he will face top players early in tournaments and at some point perhaps won't even get into the main draws of Slams.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

Silly to suggest Tomic should "give back" the money when Wimbledon won't "give back" the money to fans who shelled out to watch Dolgopolov and Klizan quit. At least Bernie played three garbage sets! Interesting that Mats Wilander has defended Tomic ... http://www.sportingnews.com/au/tenn...nnis-mats-wilander/10ht7p9anz6vw1f0nhqofhmmm1 Also here is the entire interview... http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/articles/2017-07-04/2017-07-04_bernard_tomic_first_round.html

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Andrew Miller writes:

Agree with Moxie. Tomic likely finds himself doing a job he doesn't like - he likes the benefits but hates the job. Agassi in his book said that's what he recognized, he came to understand that he had a talent for a job he didn't like. He made peace with that and here we are. Lendl seemed to like golf more. Fish actually went onto the semipro golf world as well. Michael Jordan went into baseball. Point is all of them returned with some kind of truce with the sport. I don't think Tomic's beyond that kind of truce with a game that chose him. To me I hate seeing players tank. I tanked once and it was out of frustration. I didn't like seeing Coric tank a few years back in Australia to Kuznetsov the Russian. Or Agassi tank against Cahill in Davis Cup back in 1990 in St Pete/Tampa. Heck I didn't even like seeing Roddick surrender to inevitability in the fifth set against Federer at Wimbledon in 2009, when he started giving in just enough for Federer to pull out a match that seemed within Roddick's reach. But tanking exists. Tomic may not find a way out of his dislike of a sport his dad forced him into, or find himself a way to love a sport that criticizes him so consistently (welcome to the sport). I hope he does find some way to think and approach the sport in a healthier way.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

it's just unfathomable that Tomic dislikes tennis so much yet keeps playing. There probably were other players who played just for the $ but they didn't advertise their taunting the ATP and fans and media. I wonder if he has some kind of leverage on the ATP?

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Thanks Margaret. So it's a pattern of his character to tank. If one could figure out Bernie's patterns of when he wants to play and doesn't nd when he get bored, one could get rich

 

[markowitz]

Dan Markowitz writes:

Oh come on. The guy plays a lot of tournaments. He can't play hard in each and every one of them. Obviously, if he continues to play poorly, he won't make a living playing tennis and he'll give it up. In the immortal words of Spadea when he was making his comeback from no. 247, "You don't want to lose money to play pro tennis."

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

Here are the Wilander comments since I don't know how to paste that link... But Wilander, in London leading Eurosport's coverage of Wimbledon, said on Wednesday Tomic was only saying out loud what many players feel. "Everybody jumped on one or two sentences, that is all. But he is just trying to explain how he feels... what is going on. I guarantee you every single player here at Wimbledon feels or has felt like Tomic is saying he feels," the Swede said. "I really appreciate that he was honest about it." Former world number one Wilander, who says he experienced similar losses of motivation during his career, believes more honesty is needed to confront these issues. "We need more honesty out there, but it is hard when you see what the media does to someone who is trying to be honest," he said. "Are you saying that Andy Murray was not emotionally flat for some of this year? And I think it is exactly how Novak Djokovic was at the French Open. "Everybody gets bored or rather emotionally flat sometimes, but most players are not so honest as Tomic. They have sponsors that need to be happy, and they want to keep the tour happy. "Tomic is young, only 24, but already this is his eighth or ninth Wimbledon. People need to realize that this is a tough, tough individual sport. "If you don't get tired or bored then there is something wrong with you - you are not human. People maybe don't realize that. "Players try to hide it and try to be the perfect role model, but it is not always so easy."

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

I do find it shameful that these tennis tournaments won't give partial refunds when players quit or tank. Reprehensible on their part to pretend like they can't.

 

[Moxie]

Wilander often likes to hear himself talk. There is a difference between honesty and petulance. Burn-out because you've put your heart and soul into it, traveled the world for most of the year year, and pretending you're burned out because you can't be arsed to make the effort. I can't pretend to know what goes on in Tomic's life or his mind, but he does come off as someone with a sweet deal in life, with talent, with a fortunate situation, and he's willing to just spit on it. He pretty much defies empathy, and I have been trying.

 

[Ricardo]

Marat Safin used to do the same, in one of the AO matches he caught a second serve with his hand instead of returning. But he was smart enough not to verbally disrespect the sport that gave him everything. In his memoir he mentioned how earning money was really the sole purpose why he went out there, as his mum told him to 'go and get it'.

Not sure why he mentions Federer though, as Roger is totally the opposite of him......loves the sport and never tanks nothing.

 

[Moxie]

Andrew Miller writes:

Agree with Moxie. Tomic likely finds himself doing a job he doesn't like - he likes the benefits but hates the job. Agassi in his book said that's what he recognized, he came to understand that he had a talent for a job he didn't like. He made peace with that and here we are. Lendl seemed to like golf more. Fish actually went onto the semipro golf world as well. Michael Jordan went into baseball. Point is all of them returned with some kind of truce with the sport. I don't think Tomic's beyond that kind of truce with a game that chose him. To me I hate seeing players tank. I tanked once and it was out of frustration. I didn't like seeing Coric tank a few years back in Australia to Kuznetsov the Russian. Or Agassi tank against Cahill in Davis Cup back in 1990 in St Pete/Tampa. Heck I didn't even like seeing Roddick surrender to inevitability in the fifth set against Federer at Wimbledon in 2009, when he started giving in just enough for Federer to pull out a match that seemed within Roddick's reach. But tanking exists. Tomic may not find a way out of his dislike of a sport his dad forced him into, or find himself a way to love a sport that criticizes him so consistently (welcome to the sport). I hope he does find some way to think and approach the sport in a healthier way.

We agree on some things, but you might be cautious about where you make equivalencies. Andy Roddick fought Roger tooth and nail for that final at Wimbledon in 2009. He was never broken in the match until the last game. He was heartbroken to lose that match, and I'm pretty sure it contributed to him retiring early from tennis. That was no tank and it wasn't even a capitulation. He just lost.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Henk writes:

Just another spoilt, too much-too soon tennis-brat whose parents (especially father) never bothered to develop his parental guiding skills. What a complete waste of natural talent. I saw Tomic win the 12's, 14's and 16's Orange Bowl (the latter at age 15!) which, so far, has never been done before. The kid had a no. 20 World junior ranking at 15... but the arrogance already showed at age 16. The different interview statements, including this last one, say enough about the ZERO gratitude for his talent, privileged life and the kind of low class me-first 'human' being he is.

Tomic was also given a IMG contract and a Nike contract as a junior.Looking back in hindsight,to me.this was the start of his entitlement.Tomic and his father have had many arguments with Tennis Australia.Tennis Australia backed down on many occasions.Tomic was seen as our 'Knight in Shining Armour' to get us out of the tennis doldrums.Tomic has really never 'evolved' as a player to me.He has intimated many times in the press here in Australia he does
not train as hard as he should.Tomic is a tall player and for starters should have a better serve than he does.This latest outburst to me living in Australia is disgraceful and some of our 'legends' feel the same way.