Bernard Tomic said he was desperate for a top-10 ranking at the start of the year, but now money is seemingly a higher priority for the tennis star.
The Australian’s attitude was again called into question at the Madrid Masters on Wednesday after he threw in the towel during the final point of his first-round match against Italian Fabio Fognini.
Down 6-2 5-4 and 0-40 on match point, he held his racquet by the strings and didn’t even attempt a return shot with his racquet handle pointed at the net.
A win in the match would have secured him an extra 25 ranking points, while players can earn 1000 if they go on to win the tournament.
Tomic is currently ranked No.22 in the world, 80 points behind fellow Australian Nick Kyrigos who has since advanced to the third round.
But Tomic wasn’t overly fussed about the result when questioned later.
“I don’t care about that match point,” he told News Corp Australia.
“Would you care if you were 23 and worth over $10 million?”
His match-point antics weren’t the first time Tomic has drawn the ire of fans for a perceived lack of effort in a match.
Tennis legend John McEnroe accused him of putting in a “tank job” during a straight sets loss to American Andy Roddick in 2012, which included a third set which last just 22 minutes.
He also played in the shortest match in ATP Tour history in 2014, losing 6-0 6-1 to Finn Jarkko Nieminen in 28 minutes.
He ignited further controversy in January when he retired from a match in Sydney after telling an umpire he was looking towards the Australian Open, where he was desperate to accrue the ranking points needed to get him closer to the top 10.
“I need to get there,” he said of the top-10 ranking during the Australian Open.
“And not just to get there. Like I mentioned before, I want to be there four, five, six years, inside the top 10, top 5.”
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