SYDNEY: Bernard Tomic’s father may escape conviction of assault charges in Spain, but whatever the outcome he is assured of cementing his place in the club of infamous tennis parents.
Australian John Tomic denied a charge of assault on Monday against his son’s practice partner Thomas Drouet in a brawl outside a hotel where players in the Madrid Masters were staying.
Tomic, a former taxi driver, had previously courted controversy when he once ordered his son off court in Perth, haranguing the umpire who he claimed was not penalising the opposing player.
At the 2010 Australian Open, he confronted officials who scheduled his son to play at night. And last year, Bernard asked an umpire in Miami to throw his father out of the stadium for disruptive behaviour.
Tomic is not the sport’s only unruly parent, with Pierce once shouting during a match for his daughter Mary to “kill the bitch”. The French star eventually took a restraining order out against him amid claims of assault.
But Dokic, father of Jelena, took it to a new extreme. The Serbian first sprang to attention when he was ejected from the US Open in 2000 for abusing staff about the price of a salmon lunch.
And when Jelena switched allegiance to Australia, he claimed Australian authorities, “with the help of Croatia and the Vatican have brainwashed my daughter” and even threatened to “kill an Australian in revenge”.
Like Pierce, he was banned by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). In 2009, he was jailed for threatening to bomb the Australian ambassador to Belgrade with a hand grenade.
Grand Slam champion Jennifer Capriati was another star with an overbearing parent. Father Stefano was accused of exploiting his daughter and using her as his personal meal ticket. AFP
