Djokovic says Tomic’s USD 56,000 Wimbledon penalty ‘unfair’

PTI, Jul 6, 2019, 10:39 AM IST

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London: Novak Djokovic blasted the decision to strip Bernard Tomic of his entire USD 56,000 Wimbledon prize money as “unfair.”

The controversial Australian was punished by the All England Club for tanking in his first round match which was over in just 58 minutes.

The 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the shortest men’s match at the tournament.

“I don’t think it’s fair to take all his prize money away,” said Djokovic on Friday.

“I have to see obviously his behaviour, movement on the court, how much effort he put in. He deserved his right to be in this tournament. He’s a top 100 player.

“He’s worked all year to be here. He deserves most of that prize money.”

World number one and defending Wimbledon champion Djokovic, who is also the president of the ATP Player Council, believes other factors could have come into play which would have been mitigating.

“It’s not nice for the crowd, the other players that maybe would want to be in the position to fight to get to the second round.

“But he played against Tsonga, who is a great player on grass.