Crestfallen Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic has crashed out of an ATP Challenger tournament citing COVID-19 as the reason for his retirement after a mid-match fight with his girlfriend.
The former world No.17 was competing against Japanese world No.265 Yuta Shimizu in the second round of the Little Rock Open in America on Friday morning (AEST) when an all-too-familiar scene unfolded.
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Tomic won just one of seven games in the match before retiring sick.
The one-time golden boy of Australian tennis appeared completely disinterested throughout the match, refusing to run for wide balls and putting little effort into the shots he did hit.
“I haven’t seen him move for a single ball and he is missing literally everything,” tennis analyst Zachary Cohen said.
He repeatedly complained of illness during the match, at one stage even refusing to play until he saw a doctor for a second time.
With no doctor available on court, the 31-year-old Australian was forced to continue on.
“He had the doctors out and told them his girlfriend tested positive for COVID 10 days ago. I don’t know where this is going,” Cohen said.
He didn’t last long, though, coughing up the first set 6-1 to Shimizu before pulling the pin after the fifth point in the first game of the second set.
“Alright, that does it. So, retiring due to illness is Bernard Tomic,” the ATP Challenger commentator said.
“Well, that’s a very awkward way to end, and a rather ‘Bernie’ way to end, isn’t it? Tough way to go out.
“Tomic now, we’ll see if he’s able to recover. And again, how the heck did he win that match a couple of days ago?”
Around two minutes before his retirement, members of the crowd were caught in an uncomfortable situation when Tomic and his partner Keely Hannah argued over how he became sick.
“Bernard and his girlfriend just continuing to argue,” the American commentator said.
“The long and short of it, Bernie saying, ‘You tested positive for COVID today’, girlfriend saying, ‘No, that was two weeks ago’.
“I did not anticipate having to commentate a couple’s quarrel here — but here we are.
“Either way, uncomfortable for all the fans here, who are just wanting to see a little bit of tennis tonight, but I don’t know that they’re going to get it.”
Shimizu progresses through to the quarter finals after winning, by default, a match that lasted 23 minutes.
“I mean, listen, we haven’t even talked about Shimizu at all — at all,” the commentator said.