Tennis: Tomic reproached over racquet tantrum

Australia's Bernard Tomic reacts during his first round men's singles defeat to Belgium's David Goffin on the second day of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament at the All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on June 26, 2012. AFP / ANDREW YATES

SYDNEY – Wimbledon officials spoke to Australia’s Bernard Tomic after the racquet-smashing end to his surprise first-round loss, a report said on Sunday.

Repairs were needed when Tomic, 19, damaged court two at the All England Club and he was also fined, the report said.

Tomic, a quarter-finalist at last year’s tournament, lost in four sets to Belgian wildcard David Goffin on Tuesday, and repeatedly slammed his racquet onto the grass as he walked to the net to shake hands.

“A ‘talking-to’, I think would be the wrong word, but we had a word with him,”

Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins told Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper.

“Essentially, I think it was ‘this is not really the behavior we expect, and, more to the point, you have damaged the court’, and we did have to put a bit of filler in it.”

Perkins said tournament officials were concerned with two aspects of the behaviour of Tomic, ranked 28th in the world.

“One is it’s damaging the courts for the other competitors, and that’s probably the worst bit,” he told the newspaper.

“And from our side obviously it’s not a great spectacle, and I’m sure Bernard thinks that as well, that with hindsight he wishes he hadn’t.”

Perkins said such an official approach to a player was rare at Wimbledon, but that the damage was substantial.

“If it needs filler then that means it is quite a rut,” he said.

“There’s normal wear and tear, which is scuffing, really, but this put really quite a dent in the surface.”