Bernard Tomic suffered a shock loss to British qualifier Daniel Evans in the second round of the US Open as Tomic’s father once again made sporting headlines for his ‘role’ in the loss.
Evans, the world No.179, said that John Tomic rejected a training proposal between him and Bernard in Miami last year after knocking out the Australian world No.56 on Thursday.
“I was there playing quallies (qualifiers),” said Evans. “His dad sort of fobbed me off and said I wasn’t good enough to practise with him, yeah.”
John Tomic clearly underrated the 23-year-old Birmingham product, who added Bernard to a growing list of upsets that also includes world No.12 Kei Nishikori, knocked out by Evans in the opening round.
Tomic stated after Wimbledon in July that he was on track to end up ranked in the world’s top 10, but his play in New York failed to match the bold prediction.
The 20-year-old edged past Spain’s Albert Ramos in five sets in the tournament’s opening round before winning just a single set against Evans.
Tomic described his form as, “Probably similar to last year – just up and down.”
“I don’t know. I play very good. I lose for a few months, then I play good again, then it falls down.”
“Just felt afraid to go after the ball. Wasn’t playing in the court like the first set.
Australian women’s hopefuls Sam Stosur and Ashleigh Barty both failed to make the third round of the Open after Australia’s second ranked men’s player, Marinko Matosevic fell in the first round to 19th seed Tommy Robredo.
Veteran Lleyton Hewitt is Australia’s lone chance at US Open glory remaining in the tournament, but faces world No.6 Juan Martin del Potro in a second round match-up on Friday.
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Dan Istitene, Getty Images.
