Tomic bomb explodes again

Aussie controversy kid at it again as police called to break up tennis ace's brawl with friend

Tomic bomb explodes again

Police were called to break up a fight between Australia’s struggling number one tennis hope Bernard Tomic and a male friend after a night of partying, reports saidu00a0yesterday.

Queensland state police said they attended a disturbance at Surfers Paradise, on the Gold Coast, early on Monday but no arrests were made or charges laid. “We spoke to a couple of males and that was it,” a police spokesman told AFP.

According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, police “separated the two men before the tennis ace turned on officers”.

“He reminded police of ‘who he was’ and accused officers of running a hate campaign against him,” the newspaper said, citing police sources.

Bernard Tomic. Pic/Getty Images

Tomic, who has not won a match since the second round in Bangkok more than a month ago, is no stranger to controversy, with a case related to alleged traffic offences due before a Queensland court in coming days.

Those charges stem from an incident in January when he was fined twice in the space of an hour as he drove his orange BMW M3.

Police allege he refused to stop when asked to pull over a third time. The player, who turned 20 this month, has also sparked controversy on the court, with John McEnroe accusing him of “tanking” in his US Open loss to Andy Roddick in late August.

Tomic’s lawyer Chris Nyst told the Brisbane Courier Mail newspaper there was no suggestion his client had committed any offence in the latest incident. “If there is, he certainly hasn’t been charged or even questioned about it. So I’m really not sure what all the ruckus is about,” he said.

Roger Rasheed, who formerly coached Australian Lleyton Hewitt and has recently been working with Frenchmanu00a0Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, said Tomic needed a break from tennis and should replace his father as coach. “I’m not sure if he’s got the people in front of him to be able to position him in the right place right now, which is unfortunate,” Rasheed told Sky Sports radio. —u00a0

Other Tomic controversies...
>> John McEnroe suggested that Tomic tanked — did not give his best effort — in his US Open Rd 2 match against Andy Roddick.
>> When Tomic was a junior, Tennis Australia cut his funds believing he “lacked effort” while playing in the boys’ tournament at the French Open.
>> Tomic locked himself in his house to avoid a confrontation with police over a driving offence.
>> Tomic tried to have his father John thrown out of a stadium during a match in Miami this spring.
>> During the 2009 Wimbledon Championships Tomic declined Lleyton Hewitt’s offer of training together.
>> In 2008, Tomic gathered his rackets mid-match and left the court during a low-level tournament as his father thought Tomic should protest about the quality of the line-calling. Tomic was suspended for a month by the International Tennis Federation.u00a0

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