Bernard Tomic holds second press conference to defend quitting after first set

Bernard Tomic held a second press conference after his first-round loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open to defend himself for quitting because of a groin injury.

The Australian player was booed by fans for retiring after dropping the first set to Nadal 6-4. Tomic says he was hurt that the fans doubted and questioned him, so he went out of his way to defend himself. He spoke to the media again to explain that a doctor told him he could have been out for 3-4 months had he continued to play on his bad groin. He says he has a partial tear.

Tomic said getting booed was “unfair” and that he felt the fans “misunderstood” why he quit. He said he wanted to get his side out, which he was able to do.

I’m guessing the fans were booing because they were disappointed more than anything else. They paid to see a best-of-five set match between Tomic and Nadal and only got to see one set. Combine this with Tomic’s issues on the road and underwhelming performances on the court, and the fans have good reasons to be disappointed. Not only that, but based on what Tomic did against Andy Murray two years ago, they had reasons to suspect he could have been tanking.