Bernard Tomic stripped of prize money after tanking at Wimbledon

Bernard Tomic has been fined his entire match payment fee $82,000 for tanking.

LONDON, ENGLAND — JULY 02: Bernard Tomic of Australia plays a backhand in his Men's Singles first round match against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France during Day two of The Championships — Wimbledon 2019 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 02, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Bernard Tomic has been fined his entire match payment fee $82,000 for tanking in his embarrassingly inept first round match that was the fastest loss at Wimbledon in 15 years.

Tomic claimed he just played “terrible’’, returned serve “pretty bad’’ and said the match was completed in under an hour because “ it is not like we are gonna have a lot of rallies out there’’ .

Tomic lost to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-1 6-4 in just 58 minutes where he often just patted the ball back into the net.

But the Championship referee said that Tomic’s performance didn’t meet the required professional standards.

A statement read: ‘The Grand Slam Rule Book regarding First Round Performance states the following: “All players are expected to perform to a professional standard in every Grand Slam match. With respect to First Round Performance, if in the opinion of the Referee the player did not perform to the required professional standard, the Referee may determine that the player be subject to a fine of up to first round prize money.

‘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, and therefore he has been fined the maximum amount of £45,000 which will be deducted from prize money.”

Tomic will have the chance to appeal the decision.

Tomic’s loss was the shortest match at the All England Club since Roger Federer demolished Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-1 6-2 6-0 in the second round in 2004.

After the match Tomic refused to answer many questions including whether he was happy with the effort he put in, and if he expected to be fined for not putting in enough effort.

He said he played as best as he could even though it was terrible.

When asked if he would like to have more consistency in his performance he replied ‘’Not really. I don’t know.’’

Two years ago Tomic was fined A$20,000 for saying he was bored following a loss to Mischa Zverev.

Tomic admitted to not knowing how to reverse his form slump.

“I’m going to the U.S. Try and do tournaments at Newport, Atlanta, Washington, all their hard courts,’’ he said.

“I’ve got to get ready for that, for sure.’’

Tomic insisted he still held the same passion for tennis as he did when he was younger.