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Tomic retires from French Open lead-up

19th May, 2015
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Bernard Tomic’s struggles on clay have continued ahead of the French Open, the Australian No.1 retiring during his first round ATP match in Nice.

Tomic pulled the pin after going down 6-2 in the first set to world No.269 Gianni Mina.

It was not immediately clear why he retired.

The news was better for two of his compatriots who also played in early matches on Monday.

Sixth seed Nick Kyrgios enjoyed a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 first round win over Russian Mikhail Kukushkin while James Duckworth battled to a 6-7 (7-5) 7-5 6-2 victory over American Frances Tiafoe.

After a stellar start to the year in which Tomic slashed his ranking from No.71 in early January to his current No.28, the Queenslander has dropped off during Europe’s claycourt swing.

He’s had just one win in five claycourt tournaments over the past five weeks.

With his flat groundstrokes, Tomic has typically found slower surfaces not to his liking.

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If he is fit for Roland Garros he will however enjoy a seeding, protecting him from coming up against another seed in the first two rounds.

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