Whatever happened to Aussie grit? The nation which prided itself on the work ethic of Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor and Lleyton Hewitt is now represented by Bernard Tomic, who contrived to lose his first-round match to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in less than an hour.

It was the second shortest men’s match at Wimbledon since such records started in 2002 after Roger Federer’s 54-minute demolition of Alejandro Falla in 2004. Such an unwanted slice of history brought fierce condemnation from BBC commentator John Lloyd who variously described his performance as “horrendous”, “abysmal” and that he had seen more competitive matches in his local park. It is unlikely that Tomic will receive a penny of his £45,000 prize money for his first-round exit as Wimbledon organisers investigate whether he “tanked” the match.

The 26-year-old has form in this regard. There is a reason that he has acquired the moniker “Tomic the Tank Engine" in the Australian press. Two years ago, he was fined £15,000 here for another straight-sets defeat to Mischa Zverev after which he admitted he had faked an injury. He later claimed that he was “bored” by Wimbledon, comments which also cost him the support of his racket sponsor, Head.