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An Australian tennis player was fined $56,100 for not trying hard enough in his sad 58-minute Wimbledon defeat

Rachel Hosie,Rachel Hosie   

An Australian tennis player was fined $56,100 for not trying hard enough in his sad 58-minute Wimbledon defeat
Sports2 min read

tomic fined wimbledon

  • Bernard Tomic has been fined his full first round prize money - £45,000 ($56,100) - for not putting in enough effort in his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
  • The Wimbledon match lasted just 58 minutes, which is the shortest match played at the tournament since 2004.
  • Tomic was also fined at Wimbledon in 2017.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic has been fined £45,000 ($56,100) for not trying hard enough in his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Tomic lost 6-2 6-1 6-4 to the Frenchman in a match that lasted just 58 minutes - the shortest match seen at Wimbledon since 2004.

As a result, the 26-year-old has been fined his full prize money for not meeting the "required professional standards."

"All players are expected to perform to a professional standard in every Grand Slam match," tournament organizers said in a statement released on Thursday.

"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 ($56,100) which will be deducted from prize money."

Tomic has the option to appeal the decision to the director.

Spectators weren't given much of a match to watch, with Tomic frequently hitting the ball into the net and failing to run for points.

"I mean, I played pretty bad," the world number 96 said in his post-match press conference, making no attempt to hide his disinterest in being there.

And when a reporter asked if Tomic was happy with the amount of effort he put in, he simply said: "Next question please."

Read more: A wound-up Rafael Nadal managed to unravel Nick Kyrgios in a confusing, wild, but brilliant Wimbledon drama

As for his opponent, Tsonga reportedly isn't happy about Tomic being fined either, because he believes it makes his win mean less.

"It's like what I did was not win," Tsonga said. "It's like I was just here and I just won because, they said, he didn't play enough."

This isn't the first time Tomic has been fined at Wimbledon - back in 2017, he was fined £11,500 ($15,000) for saying he was "a little bit bored out there" in a press conference after losing a first-round match against Mischa Zverev.

The incident also lead to Tomic being dropped by his sponsor Head.

Fines for lack of effort are on the rise in tennis following a rule introduced in 2018 that aims to prevent injured players from entering tournaments only to retire during the first round.

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