Wimbledon: Bernard Tomic sneers at critics after 'feeling bored' during first round defeat
The Australian pointed out how much richer he is than those who criticise him
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Your support makes all the difference.Bernard Tomic admitted that he could not motivate himself after limping to a dismal first round defeat at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Australian Tomic was beaten in straight sets by German Mischa Zverev and he never looked interested, walking listlessly around the court and eventually losing 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
In a post-match press conference that alternated between honesty and unpleasantness, Tomic scorned his critics, pointed to how richer he was than them, but most strikingly of all admitted that he struggled to make himself care out on Court Number 14.
“It was definitely a mental issue out there,” Tomic admitted after his defeat. “I wasn’t mentally and physically there with my mental state to perform. I don’t know why but I felt a little bored out there, to be completely honest with you.”
Tomic is only 24 but this was his eighth appearance in the men’s singles at SW19. He famously reached the quarter-finals in 2011 at the age of 18, the youngest man to get that far since Boris Becker. But he revealed today after his loss that he finds it difficult to keep caring about the big tournaments.
“To be completely honest, it’s tough,” Tomic said. “I’m 24, I came on tour at 16, 17, I have been around and it feels like I’m super old, but I’m not. This is my eighth or ninth Wimbledon, I’m still 24 and it’s tough to find motivation. Being out there on court, to be honest, I just couldn’t find any motivation. I just couldn’t find anything, it’s happened to me a lot.”
But when Tomic was asked if he would give back the money he earned from playing in the first round, he suggested that Roger Federer would not give back his “$500million” and dared the journalists to ask the seven-time champion. “We all work for money,” Tomic said. “At 34, maybe I can donate to charity. If you ask Roger if he’ll do it, I’ll do it.”
Tomic has made himself very unpopular by boasting about his wealth in the past, sneering last year that he did not care about winning or losing because he was 23 and “worth over $10m”. Tomic repeated a similar sneer here on Tuesday, responding to those who had criticised him on social media today with very little grace. “That’s his opinion,” Tomic said of one critic. “I’m sure he’s on his computer somewhere making $50 an hour.”
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