Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic was being investigated by police over bets on his matches during the 2022 Australian Open.
Tomic, 32, has been playing tennis professionally since 2008. He’s won a reported $6.39 million and 186 singles matches. In 2011, he managed to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
According to those who cover tennis, he’s seen as Australia’s “bad boy”, with multiple issues throughout his career. These include fighting with officials and fans.
As reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, Tomic is being investigated by the strike force “Whyman,” which launched in 2022. It intends to look into suspicious bets made by Tomic and his opponent, Roman Safiullin, and another match in Turkey in 2021.
Against Safiullin, Tomic lost 6-1 and 6-4. In Turkey, he lost to Quentin Halys 6-0 and 6-1. At the time, Australian media did report that thousands of dollars were bet against Tomic, hence the suspicion.
Tomic has had his phone taken off him during the probe, and he appeared “cocky and confident” while being questioned. The report also details that a bookmaker refused to pay any kind of winnings, owing to the concerns.
Tomic not guilty in police betting probe
However, despite investigations into foul play, Tomic wasn’t found guilty. He’s still eligible to play in professional tennis matches and has received no other punishments regarding it.
The International Tennis Federation’s decision to allow gambling on tennis in 2016 saw an explosion in bets. Sydney Morning Herald reports that this was in the multibillion-dollar range, including real-time betting on the lower tier, “non-televised games”.
Tomic did play last week in the Australian Open again. This was the first time since 2022 that he’d taken to the court but was beaten in 61 minutes. Since his absence from the big leagues, he’s made around $100,000 in low-level tournaments and India.
