Bernard Tomic is a name most tennis fans know, and unfortunately, it's not because of his tennis, even though he used to be one of the most talented players on the ATP Tour.
Tomic broke out as a superbly talented youngster over a decade ago, but like his compatriot Nick Kyrgios, he quickly became known as a troublemaker. That label never went away because he never really stopped being a troublemaker.
As a result, his tennis suffered greatly, especially in recent years. The Australian never fulfilled his potential and never settled like his compatriot Kyrgios did. For tennis, it's certainly a shame, because he had tremendous potential, some say even greater than that of many of his contemporaries.
In recent years, Tomic has found some peace, in a sense. He returned to tennis and has been grinding on the lower levels of the sport for a while now with solid success. He was in action last week at the ATP Challenger event in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he made the quarter-finals.
He was beaten in the quarter-final by Ecuadorian player Anders Andrade, losing 2-6, 2-6, but Tomic was not happy with that result. He didn't shake his opponent's hand after the match, but that in itself pales in comparison to what he did a few days later.
He appeared in the stands for the final match, which was played between Andrade and Bosnian player Damir Dzumhur. Funnily enough, both of Tomic's parents hail from Bosnia, even though he was born in Germany and raised in Australia.
There could have been some solidarity between players who likely know each other well as they are of similar age. It wasn't, though, because Tomic's focus was on Andrade.
He wasn't there to support Dzumhur but to heckle Andrade, which he proceeded to do during the match. Naturally, the Ecuadorian wasn't very fond of that and complained to the umpire about it, with the organizers then kicking Tomic outside of the stadium because of the heckling.
It reads like fan fiction because the situation is bizarre on so many levels, but it truly happened. Tomic was there to heckle a fellow player, and he got kicked out of the stadium because of that.
It isn't known why Tomic did that, but there is a long list of things he's done in the past that are similarly puzzling to many people, and this one was most likely related to his loss and likely some previous disagreement.
Andrade lost the match, 4-6, 4-6, which Tomic was certainly happy about, but he didn't get to witness it live. However, Andrade also responded to the Australian, as he pointed to his record of appalling behavior in the past.
"I may not be a great tennis player, but what I am not is a bad person and a bad loser."
Tomic recently said publicly that he was taking tennis seriously and would try to make it back to the Top 100, and he's followed up on that. How likely that is, though, remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, some old demons have never left him. It is one of the main reasons he was in Santo Domingo this past week and not Cincinnati, where the best competed at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
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