Australian tennis player Jordan Thompson has always been seen as a hard grafter, but he copped a roasting after a straight sets loss in an ATP Tour event in Memphis.
Thompson lost 6-3 6-0 to Nickoloz Basilashvili in just 65 minutes. The Georgian player is no mug – ranked 67th in the world compared to Thompson’s ranking of 63.
It didn’t stop some from absolutely giving it to the Australian on social media, 22-year-old Thompson receiving the kind of abuse that Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios have become accustomed to.
Thompson also received his fair share of private messages and he responded by slamming those armchair critics.
Following the tweet, support for the Australian came in droves.
The abuse levelled at tennis players for poor performances could be more than just a social media phenomenon. The money placed on tennis is also at play here.
Thompson was the clear favourite to win the match and those serious punters who put their hard earned on the Aussie to win or at least ‘not lose so badly’ immediately go for the choke/tank angle.
Let’s remember that it was only a few days ago that Thompson helped Australia to a Davis Cup win with a tremendous straight set win over the top-ranked Czech Jiri Vasely.
Professional tennis players can no longer just have a bad day. There’s fallout not just in press conferences but from those punters and keyboard warriors who feel like the players owe them something.
Michaelj
Guest
Even if legal betting was banned on sport, underground betting would exist. You only know for sure when a player confesses.
Justin Ahrns
Roar Guru
Haven't seen the match myself, but I followed the scores this morning and the first set looked extremely tight. Thompson is one player I wouldn't expect to tank, or even give anything less than his best effort. He may have played a bad match, but Basilashvilli beat Dominic Thiem just last week, so we must give him credit too. Hopefully Thommo responds positively.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
I agree Scotty. I found some highlights online. He played some poor shots but from what I saw it wasn't like he was giving up on points like we've seen some players do. I couldn't find the unforced errors for the match..It looks like it was just a bad day. The abuse he copped was harsh, but it indicates that he's improved so much that there are expectations now that he should be consistent. As we know guys like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer lose but very rarely, if ever get wiped off the court.
Scott Pryde
Expert
I haven't watched the match, but it must have been pretty ordinary for people to call him out for tanking. When you remember he fought back against Joao Souza from 2 sets down at the Aussie and grabbed a set back against Dominic Thiem in the second round after going down 2, his fight is not something we see in some other Aussie players these days. That's obviously a terrible scoreline, but let's hope it was just a really off day for Thommo.