Controversial Australian Bernard Tomic’s season suffered another setback on Sunday when he retired from his Rome Masters opening match after just eight minutes.
Tomic was leading France’s Benoit Paire 2-1 when he called for a medical timeout before calling it quits through an unspecified illness.
Sunday’s defeat comes just days after the world No 22 was roundly criticised for holding his racquet back to front on match point against Fabio Fognini in the first round of the Madrid Masters.
He then compounded the ill-advised gesture by a brazen performance in his post-match news conference.
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“I don’t care about that match point,” he said. “Would you care if you were 23 and worth over $10 million?”
On Saturday, Tomic and fiery compatriot Nick Kyrgios were warned that their on-court behaviour could threaten their places in the Australian team for the Rio Olympics in August.
Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller described Tomic’s behaviour in Madrid as “appalling”.
Tomic has won just one match on clay this season in a worrying indication of his poor form just two weeks out from the French Open, the second grand slam tournament of the season.
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