Once against Australian player Bernard Tomic is embroiled in fresh controversy following a controversial phrase he used during his Wimbledon after-match press conference.
The 19th seed sparked the outrage following his five-set win over Fernando Verdasco. At the start of the match the Australian has to wait on the court for the Spanish player to arrive. The scenario itself wasn’t controversial, however, how Tomic described it has angered disability rights campaigners.
“I think he was up in the locker getting something taped. When I left, I thought he was leaving, so I just happened to walk out,” said the 23-year-old.
“I did get to the court prior to him very early, and unfortunately I had to stand on court like a retard.”
The use of the word ‘retard’ is what has triggered the outrage. During the 1900s retard was used to describe somebody with a mental disability, however, it is now more commonly used as an offensive word.
Ciara Lawrence, who works as a campaign support officer at disability charity Mencap, has called for Tomic to apologise for his comments.
“I’d like the player to apologise and would encourage him to meet people with a learning disability so he can understand why the word is so damaging and offensive,” she told the Press Association.
It isn’t the first time that Tomic has made the headlines for the wrong reasons at Wimbledon. Last year at the tournament, he accused tennis Australia of mistreatment and called former player Pat Rafter as ‘a good actor’. Those controversial comments resulted in him being dropped from Australia’s Davis Cup clash against Kazakhstan.
Earlier this year at the Madrid Open, he was accused of tanking against Fabio Fognini, an accusation that he has since denied. During his post-match interview, Tomic said that he wasn’t bothered.
“I don’t care about that match point. Would you care if you were 23 and worth over $10 million?” he said.
Tomic has since said that he regretted making the comments and believes that he is ‘sometimes misunderstood’ by people.
There has been no comment from the world No.19 concerning his ‘retard comment’. He will play his second round match against Moldova’s Radu Albot on Thursday afternoon at Wimbledon.
