John Tomic made a surprise court-side return to see his son Bernard suffer a narrow loss in the opening round of the Queen’s Club tennis tournament in London on Tuesday.
Despite his tour credentials still being suspended pending an assault charge, John Tomic was allowed to watch on as Bernard fell 6-4 6-7 7-6 to German Benjamin Becker in the opening match of his grass-court campaign.
John Tomic, who is also his son’s coach, was given permission by Queen’s officials to attend the event as a spectator, despite being banned from doing so at the French Open a fortnight ago.
With the ATP leaving it up to individual tournaments to determine whether or not to ban him from attending as a ticket-holder, officials decided he would be treated like any other member of the public, providing he was on his best behaviour.
Dressed in a blue sports jacket, a white cap and dark shades and sitting in the second row, he showed little emotion as his son battled hard but fell just short in a match that finished around 8pm local time after several rain delays.
In a high-quality encounter, Bernard didn’t seem troubled by the hamstring problem that forced him to retire during the first round at Roland Garros.
He dropped serve in the opening game and it proved the difference in a tight first set, but he squared the ledger with a brilliant drop shot to win the second set in a tie break.
Tomic fought back from 4-1 down in the deciding set but paid for a handful of mistakes in the tie-breaker as 105th-ranked Becker progressed to the second round.
It’s believed John Tomic had been in talks with officials at Queen’s in recent days about attending the event.
The ATP said under its rules it could prohibit a person from gaining accreditation but “any decision to prohibit a person from gaining entry into a tournament through general admissions must be taken by each tournament in question.
“The ATP continues its investigation into the incident in Madrid concerning John Tomic. Mr Tomic’s credential privileges continue to be suspended at all ATP tournaments until further notice.”
John Tomic declined to speak to the media when approached prior to his son’s match.
The coach had his credentials suspended in May after he was charged with assaulting his son’s former training partner, Frenchman Thomas Drouet, during the Madrid Masters.
He denies assault, saying he acted in self defence, and the case has been adjourned until October.
Australian Sam Groth lost 6-7 6-3 6-2 to Czech 12th seed Lukas Rosol on Tuesday while Lleyton Hewitt’s second-round clash with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov was postponed until Wednesday due to the rain.
