Bernard Tomic apologises after responding to heckler

Omnisports

August 31, 2016 12:26 AM

Controversial Australian tennis star Bernard Tomic has apologised for a foul-mouthed spray after being heckled by a spectator at the US Open.

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Controversial Australian tennis star Bernard Tomic has apologised for a foul-mouthed spray after being heckled by a spectator at the US Open.

Tomic was the subject of abuse from a heckler in the stands, and the 17th seed responded during the opening set of his first-round loss to Damir Dzumhur on Tuesday.

He was overheard responding to the spectators' taunts, saying: "I will put my balls in your mouth" and "I will give you some money to make you feel good".

French umpire Cedric Mourier told Tomic to go through the official channels rather than take matters into his own hands, with the player replying: "He was saying some s***".

Tomic then went on to apologise after his 6-4 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-0) defeat at the hands of world number 72 Dzumhur at the year's final grand slam.

"He was just baiting me a bit. You know, I don't want to get into it. I apologised for what I said to him," Tomic told reporters.

"After he left the first set, I think the crowd got happy he left because he was a bit annoying.

"He was just sort of saying negative stuff. I didn't know who it was because I was just focusing on the court. It was tough to figure out in the background.

"It's passed and I don't really care who this guy is.

"He definitely baited me the whole set for me to say that. But I do apologize. If there were people around that heard, yeah, that's all I can say."

Tomic added: "I watched a little bit today of [Janko] Tipsarevic also and [Sam] Querrey.

"There were some similar situations with the crowd yelling and people talking in between points. Big points, I should say.

"It was maybe not good that the crowd got too excited or sometimes speaking in the points. It's not fair."

Omnisports

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