Bernard Tomic’s French Open preparations have suffered another blow after the Australian retired from his first-round match at the Rome International just eight minutes in, citing illness.
Tomic, who was leading Benoît Paire 2-1, stunned the crowd by conceding the match after a brief consultation with a doctor during a medical timeout. “I was feeling bad all night,” Tomic said. “I couldn’t play with the heat. I felt so, so bad and I felt like I was going to collapse. It was the best thing for me to do to retire.”
The setback follows heavy criticism from world No. 1 Novak Djokovic after Tomic appeared to give up during a match in Madrid last week, turning his racket the wrong way to face a serve while facing match points. Tomic has now crashed out at the first hurdle in his last three tournaments.
The Queenslander has no further ATP events scheduled before the French Open begins on 17 May, and has won only a single set in his last four matches on clay.
