Following John Tomic’s committal for trail in Madrid after assaulting his son Bernard’s practice partner, the Federation Francaise de Tennis (FFT) has been insistent the Australian player’s father would be banned from Roland Garros.
Even though the International Tennis Federation has decided not to allow Tomic Sr. routine coaching accreditation, he was intent on breaking the ban, buying a general admission ticket in the guise of a bone fide spectator to gain entrance to the French Open and watch his son’s opening match against the veteran Victor Hanescu.
However security guards and ticket sellers at all entrances to the tournament grounds received photographs of the barred parent with firm instructions to deny him access if he attempted an unwelcome appearance.
The FFT has jurisdiction on day-to-day matters, and when it caught wind of John’s mission, the decision was announced to lock him out of the premises under all circumstances.
“Our tournament committee decided that, for the purpose of avoiding any trouble inside Roland Garros, Bernard’s father would not be allowed in,” Roland Garros operations director Christophe Fagniez said. “Instructions have been given to the ticket sales office and to the gates, but this will remain discreet.”
Meanwhile inside Roland Garros, Bernard Tomic has been embraced by his peers like never before. The player has been hiding from the spotlight as long as he can by omitting his name from the daily practice schedule to avoid attention and rejecting all interviews, but he’s been relaxed and cracking jokes behind the closed doors of the locker rooms, receiving good wishes from numerous players and using Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic as a hitting partner.
“I saw him (Bernard) in the locker room for 10 seconds yesterday,” Lleyton Hewitt said. “That was it. Haven’t spoken to him, apart from saying ‘Hi’. He was pretty relaxed.”
©Daily tennis News Wire
Topics: Australian tennis news, Bernard Tomic, French Open, Itf, John Tomic, Roland Garros, Sports, Tennis News
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