Tomic fined full Wimbledon prize money ~ Leo Borg makes debut

West Indies beat Afghanisthan in an otherwise insignificant match.  Phil Simmons was coach of the West Indies team. Simmons is now coach of the Afghanistan team ~ and  it is very possible that Simmons will again become the coach of the West Indies team. When India lost to England, social media blamed Dhoni, Jadhav and Indians for not showing intent to win !!  .. .. even as we have been concentrating on Cricket WC 2019, the grass court tournament, Wimbldeon is currently progressing !

It was a busy day at the Junior International Roehampton, but all eyes were on one player only: Leo Borg. The 16-year-old son of five-time Wimbledon winner Bjorn Borg was making his debut on grass at the junior Wimbledon Qualifying event on Thursday, thanks to a wild card given to him by the All England Club.  Bjorn Borg had dominated like Federer or Djokovic the defending champion.  The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is played on outdoor grass courts.

On Day Four of Wimbledon 2019, Jay Clarke brought the total number of British men to have emerged hereabouts somewhat bruised after Ordeal By Federer to a round half-dozen. The world No.169, a wild card into The Championships, openly admitted before this joust that he feared the possibility of being “embarrassed” by the Swiss legend. He need have had no such concerns, especially in the second set, much to the appreciation of the No.1 Court crowd. Nonetheless, Federer grasped the expected second round victory 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2 in 96 minutes.  Clarke had already richly repaid the faith placed in him with that wild card. In the first round he experienced the thrill of his first ever Grand Slam win, defeating Noah Rubin in four sets.

By contrast with Clarke’s one Wimbledon match win, Federer was bidding for his 97th singles victory in SW19, along with his 17th visit to the third round here, and his 70th such in a Grand Slam. Above all, in the 77 Grand Slams he has contested to date, Federer has never lost to a wild card, nor has ever been defeated at a major by any player ranked as low as Clarke.  Here are some snippets of Wimbledon.

An emotional Dan Evans looked to the skies and shook both fists in the air as he ensured Britain would have a male representative in the third-round of Wimbledon. Evans won in straight sets against Nikoloz Basilashvili, equalling his best record at SW19. He sliced and diced his opponent to shreds on Court No 2, defended superbly and dug out the victory when it looked like the third set might be slipping away.  It’s been a difficult two years for the British No. 3. Banned after testing positive for cocaine in 2017, he missed the next two Wimbledons – the second because organisers wouldn’t grant him a wildcard. While few – not even Evans – would make excuses for his drugs abuse as a professional athlete, the 29-year-old has applied himself well since returning to the sport, and he is not too far away from a return to to the world’s top-50.

Tennis badboy Nick Kyrgios  received a warning for ranting at the umpire as he won the second set to make it 1-1 against Rafael Nadal - just hours after partying at a local Wimbledon pub.  The 24-year-old was spotted at the Dog & Fox Pub in Wimbledon last night until around 11pm just hours ahead of  day's game. Kyrgios, who lost the first set 6-3, received a warning for his conduct after raging at the umpire about how long Nadal was taking between points. He then won the second set to make it 1-1.  The Australian shouted 'tell him, tell him!' before taunting the umpire by saying, 'you like the power up there, don't you?'. Later he called the official a 'disgrace'.

Bernard Tomic has been fined his full Wimbledon prize money of £45,000 [INR 38.79 lakhs approx]  for a lack of effort in his first round defeat - which lasted just 58 minutes. Wimbledon authorities docked him the pay after ruling he did not meet the 'required professional standard' in his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  It is the second time in three years that the controversial Australian has been fined at the All England Club after being fined £15,000 following a defeat in 2017 in which he admitted he was 'bored' at Wimbledon. The 26-year-old was beaten in the shortest men's match at SW19 in 15 years, just four minutes shy of Roger Federer's 54-minute demolition of Alejandro Falla in 2004.

                   It is the latest in a long line of incidents where the player has been accused of 'tanking' - deliberately not trying in a match - which earned him the nickname Tomic the Tank Engine. In 2017 he was fined £15,000 for a straight sets defeat by Mischa Zverev, after which he admitted he faked an injury and was 'bored' by Wimbledon, admitting he had put in '50 per cent effort'. Tomic was fined under Article three of the Wimbledon Code of Conduct that governs on-site behaviour of all players.  The Article includes a section devoted to first round performances to ensure players do not enter merely to secure the £45,000 prize money awarded to each loser. The rule states: All players are expected to perform to a professional standard in every Grand Slam match.  With respect to First Round Performance, if in the opinion of the Referee the player did not perform to the required professional standard, the Referee may determine that the player be subject to a fine of up to first round prize money (£45,000).

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

4^th July 2019.