Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic went off on a heckler in the stands at the U.S. Open tennis tournament after he spent part of the match on the receiving end of taunts.
Through a portion of the first set, a fan heckled Tomic, at one point calling him a “pussy.” While something like this is usually handled by official channels—the match’s chair umpire, for instance—Tomic took it upon himself to throw some insults back, telling him to “suck my balls.” He also told the heckler that “I will put my balls in your mouth” and “I will give you some money to make you feel good.”
Naturally, his insults were caught on a microphone.
While one of the exchanges was enough to make Tomic’s opponent, Damir Dzumhur, pause while preparing to serve, French Umpire Cedric Mourier was less enthused and told Tomic noted it was better to go through him next time.
Tomic lost the match and eventually apologized for his response to the heckler—sort of—and criticized the fans who talked between points.
“He was just baiting me a bit,” Tomic told reporters after the match. “You know, I don’t want to get into it. I apologized for what I said to him. After he left the [after] first set, I think the crowd got happy he left because he was a bit annoying.”
While he wasn’t punished for using an ableist slur earlier in the summer, it’s expected that Tomic will be disciplined for his remarks this time around.
H/T Mediaite
