Tomic Is Spotted At Queen’s After Buying A Ticket

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 12th June 2013

Tomic Is Spotted At Queen’s After Buying A Ticket |

John Tomic, the controversial father of Australian no.1 Bernard Tomic, supposedly banned worldwide from attending all Grand Slam and ATP World Tour tournaments after allegedly assaulting his son’s doubles partner in Madrid last month, defied his suspension to gain entry to the Aegon Championships at London’s Queen’s Club and sit just two rows back from the playing surface.

Tomic Sr., who will face charges of assault against Monaco’s Thomas Drouet in a Madrid court later this year, was allowed to watch his son’s first round defeat to German Benjamin Becker after Queen’s Club officials decided to admit him as a spectator.

Although Tomic is supposedly to be given no official access to his son’s matches after having his ATP World Tour credentials as a coach withdrawn, he is believed to have bought a ticket from a scalper outside the gates of the West London club.

Despite having no official pass, he took up a seat in the players’ reserved area alongside Tomic’s IMG agent Fraser Wright. During the match he refrained from any cheering, instead clenching his hands, folding his arms and rocking on his chair during particularly tense moments.

Tomic, Jr., who maintained he’d been suffering from a leg injury at the French Open, had previously listed Eugenio Forchione as his coach, Ivan Dimitrijevic as his fitness trainer and former British tennis player Harry Skinner as his hitting partner.

Officials at Queen’s argued that Tomic Sr.’s ban applied only to accreditation and that he was at liberty to sit in the stands as an ordinary spectator, provided he paid £36 for his seat. He is understood to have been allowed in only after talks with tournament organizers, on the strict condition that he behaved with decorum.

However the Queen’s Club interpretation was very different to that adopted at the French Open where officials not only banned John Tomic from the competition, but circulated this photo to security officials at entry points to ensure he was prevented from attending. The All England Club officials at Wimbledon have also indicated they will be enforcing the ban against Tomic across all areas of access.

While Tomic Sr. declined to speak to the press after the incident, his son, who lost 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 to Becker, said he had not even been aware of his father’s presence. “I hadn’t spotted him,” he insisted. “It was 50-50 whether he was going to come. It wasn’t really something I was focusing on.”