
Tomic is out of the Murray Road Open, before he was even in.
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MELBOURNE, Australia – Late Saturday afternoon, Bernard Tomic looked in fine spirits as he skipped rope to warm up for a practice session with Tour veteran Marin Cilic.
Seemingly carefree, Tomic had the guarantee of at least $100,000 AUD in his pocket after doing to Doha and winning three matches to qualify for the main draw of the Australian Open.
His merging of tennis and soft porn (Yup, that’s where we’re at with this) seems to be going weoo.
Even better, he had a first-round match in the Great Ocean Road to Mandalay Open (or whatever the name of it is) against another Aussie, Marc Polmans.
That was a winnable match. And the winner of it would take on Nick Kyrgios.
A tasty treat in store, right?
Not so fast.
Tomic pulled out of the ATP event Monday. He’ll be replaced by Harry Bourchier, a lower-ranked Aussie who happens to be on site and can take advantage of just that opportunity with the limited personnel available.
Why?
The right knee, per the ATP.
But, let’s be fair, it’s a risk management situation.
To lose in the first round of the Andy Murray Road Open, you get $2500 US. To win it, you get $4000 US.
All of that pales against what awaits next week.
These tournaments are named after places that suffered very serious wild fire damages, right, not just random or whimsical naming? (Re. Great Ocean Road … or whatever the name of it is)?
Yes, I’m aware.
At some point I will certainly refer to it as the “Great Ocean Road to Mandalay”.
And the Grampians Trophy as the “Gramps of Wrath”. Or perhaps the “Grampa Trophy”.
So consider that a heads’ up.