- Tomic was trying to play a Grand Slam for the first time since 2021
- He needed to win three sudden death games in a row to achieve this.
Bernard Tomic’s attempt to return to the Grand Slam circuit saw him sent off the court in an embarrassing straight sets defeat at Melbourne’s Kia Arena on Tuesday.
The former world number 17 needed to win three consecutive sudden-death matches to qualify for the Australian Open, but fell at the first hurdle, losing 6-3, 6-1 to Slovakian Jozef Kovalik, ranked 128th in the world. .
Tomic’s tough loss comes after he also suffered a horror defeat when he played in his first tournament final in six years, losing 6-0, 6-1 in just 39 minutes to American Learner Tien at the Fairfield Challenger in San Francisco last October.
That loss set a world record for fastest loss in an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Event.
Tomic, currently ranked 214th in the world, last played in his home Grand Slam in 2021 and has never made it past the fourth round in his 11 appearances at the tournament.
Last year, Tomic won $101,170 playing in Challenger and Future events in places like Wichita, Little Rock and Calabasas.
Tomic, once ranked 17th in the world, crashed in embarrassing fashion in the Australian Open qualifiers on Tuesday.
The polarizing Australian was eliminated from the court in just 61 minutes when he lost in straight sets to Slovakian Jozef Kovalik.
The news was no better for Cruz Hewitt (pictured), who also lost in straight sets, but unlike Tomic, the 16-year-old will have many more opportunities to play in the Grand Slam at home.
The 32-year-old would have more than doubled that figure in a week if he had qualified for the Open to secure a minimum payday of $132,000 even for losing in the first round.
At the other end of the spectrum, 16-year-old Cruz Hewitt, the son of former Australian Open runner-up Lleyton and half the age of Tomic, lost in his attempt to qualify for the first time.
Receiving a wild card, Hewitt fell to No. 201 Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-4.
The Australian gave his fans a taste of what he is capable of at such a young age when he saved four break points in the second set to trail 4-3.
Hewitt’s defeat came after he made headlines after his friend Nick Kyrgios appeared to attack him on social media for posting a photo of himself with world number one Jannik Sinner.
The controversial Australian has branded Sinner’s breach of the sport’s anti-doping program “disgusting” and has gone out of his way to attack the Italian at every opportunity.
Kyrgios commented under Cruz’s post: “I love you Cruz but this is crazy,” and then added “Post cooked” with a needle emoji.
The Australian firebrand also wrote: “I thought we were kids” with several broken heart emojis.
Sinner later shared Cruz’s photo and posted: ‘Thanks for joining, good luck!’