Bernard Tomic’s filthiest sledge yet
Bernard Tomic's latest effort is possibly his worst. Photo: Getty
As Sam Stosur was covering Australia in glory at the US Open, Australian tennis bad boys were doing their best to undo all of her good work.
In his opening round match against Damir Dzumhur, Bernard Tomic was overheard telling a fan to “suck my balls”, among other crass remarks.
As he struggled against the world number 72, Tomic was being heckled by a spectator, and suddenly snapped.
Tomic was picked up by court-side microphones saying: “I will put my balls in your mouth” and “I will give you some money to make you feel good”.
He was also heard muttering “suck my balls”.
Umpire Cedric Mourier reportedly told Tomic he couldn’t stop the spectator cheering if there was no disruption or violation of the code of conduct.
"I will put my balls in your mouth" and "I will give you some money to make you feel good". Quotes: Bernard Tomic pic.twitter.com/sxGoyON0MU
— Alex Theodoridis (@AlexTheodorid1s) August 30, 2016
“He’s saying s*** to me,” Tomic seemed to say.
“It’s better you go through me than try to solve it by yourself,” Mourier said.
Dzumhur defeated Tomic in four sets, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.
Tomic later apologised for his foul-mouthed comments, saying he snapped after being abused by the fan as well as other spectators who he claimed sledged him in his mother tongue.
“He was just baiting me a bit. You know, I don’t want to get into it. I apologised for what I said to him,” Tomic told reporters.
“After he left the first set, I think the crowd got happy he left because he was a bit annoying.”
Spectator told Tomic to ‘have a cry’
Tomic refused to go into detail, other than to say “it was negative stuff”, but his manager David Drysdale later said the 23-year-old was a victim of some vulgar abuse.
“The guy was at him all the way through the first set, calling Bernie a pussy and telling Bernie to go and have a cry with his little pussy girlfriend,” Drysdale said.
“No one should have to cop that.”
The heckler also told Tomic he would be thrashed by fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios if they met in a projected all-Australian third-round contest.
“There was some stuff in the background as I was playing balls and returning. It’s tough,” Tomic said.
“I watched a little bit today of (Janko) Tipsarevic also and (Sam) Querrey. There were some similar situations with the crowd yelling and people talking in between points. Big points, I should say.
“It was maybe not good that the crowd got too excited or sometimes speaking in the points. It’s not fair.”
Tomic said fans of his Bosnian opponent down the other end of the court apologised for their abuse.
“They were saying some negative stuff to me, in my language of Serbian-Croatian,” he said.
“The microphones didn’t pick that up. But I obviously caught the blame for that.
“My mother is Bosnian. Obviously I understand the language.”
Kyrgios to escape sanction
Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios will not be sanctioned for claiming tennis players are allowed to smoke marijuana on tour during a snap Q & A with his Twitter followers on the eve of his first-round match at the US Open.
Kyrgios offered up a simple “yep” when asked by a fan: “are you allowed to smoke weed on tour?”
And it seems the controversial star is correct, with a WADA spokesman confirming that while marijuana “is a prohibited substance for in-competition testing, it has never been prohibited out-of-competition”.
– with AAP, ABC
