Bernard Tomic Holds Racket Backward vs. Fabio Fognini on Madrid Open Match Point

Bernard Tomic appeared to concede a match point to Fabio Fognini at the Madrid Open on Tuesday by approaching the shot with his racket held upside down. 

As Australian news outlet 7 News Adelaide noted, the 23-year-old has a reputation for "tanking." It shared footage of the match point in question, as Fognini served for the straight-sets victory:

The ace allowed Fognini to wrap up the first-round victory 6-2, 6-4. Sports journalist Andy Maher was unimpressed, as was fellow Aussie and jockey Zac Purton:

Former tennis player Patrick McEnroe called for Tomic to be suspended:

According to ABC, since suffering a wrist injury at Indian Wells in March, Tomic has now exited three successive ATP competitions in his first match, having lost to Robin Haase in the Nastase Tiriac Trophy and Diego Schwartzman in the Istanbul Open.

Per the ATP, Tomic was ranked a career-high 17th in the world in January this year but has since slipped to 22nd—hardly a monumental slide but indicative of his poor form this season.

Further, after his latest defeat and with the French Open approaching—he has never made it beyond the second round at Roland Garros—his ranking could be set to suffer even more.

It's possible he is yet to fully recover from his injury, but the perceived lack of effort he displayed in the final point against Fognini will do him no favours.

Tomic undoubtedly has plenty of potential, but at 23, it's time for him to start realising it fully.