Tomic crashes out of Wimbledon contention after 18-minute capitulation

Bernard Tomic’s faint hopes of competing at Wimbledon this year have been crushed after he fell apart in the second round of qualifying on Thursday morning (AEST).

World No. 125 Bernabe Zapata Miralles thumped the Aussie tennis star in straight sets 6-4 6-1 as Tomic meekly surrendered in a second set that lasted just 18 minutes.

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Despite his rapid second set capitulation, overall Tomic held on for longer than he did against Jarkko Nieminen in Miami in 2014 — when he suffered the quickest loss in ATP history in 28 minutes and 20 seconds.

Once ranked inside the top 20, Tomic now sits 224th in the world after an alarming fall from grace. He made it through Australian Open qualifying in February before losing in the second round, and has been plying his trade on the second-tier Challenger Tour in recent times.

Tomic is yet to get past the second round of any tournament this year and before his Wimbledon disappointment crashed out in the first round of qualifying for the French Open last month.

That defeat included a bizarre exchange at the end of the second set where Tomic appeared to be lost on the process of serving procedures.

Bernard Tomic’s career has fallen off a cliff. Pic: Michael Klein.Source:News Corp Australia

There was a glimmer of optimism at the All England Club earlier this week when Tomic scraped through the first round of Wimbledon qualifying in a come-from-behind 4-6 6-4 6-3 win over Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcik.

After nearly two hours on court Tomic walked off full of relief after facing four break points while serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set.

His relief showed in front of the camera as he calmly sauntered over to the interview area still trying to pull a singlet over his bare torso before asking English TV broadcaster John Inverdale if he needed to put a shirt on.

Tomic’s honesty was on full show during the interview when he spoke about those nervous final moments as he struggled to close out the match.

“Yeah, it was tough. I was nervous,” he said. “I couldn’t really turn on my backhand side. And then I kind of … erm… s*** myself.”

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