Will Bernard Tomic ever grow up? Australian tennis player holds his racket the wrong way round on match point in yet another display of bad sportsmanship

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Australian tennis bad boy Bernard Tomic has landed in hot water again after being accused of tanking at the Madrid Open in Spain on Tuesday.

The ABC reports that the world number 22 held his racket the wrong way round on match point against Italy's Fabio Fognini and just watched as the ball was served past him.

Tomic was behind 6-2, 5-4 and 40-0 against the Italian when he held the racquet by its strings, with the handle facing outwards, during their first round match.

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Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic held his racket the wrong way round on match point in his game against Italy's Fabio Fognini in the Madrid Open

The world number 22 player has been on a shocking run of form since sustaining a wrist injury against Milos Raonic of Canada during the third round of the Indian Wells tournament in March.

Tomic has performed abysmally since then, and has lost in the first round of every ATP tournament he has played in since then, losing to Robin Haase in Bucharest, Diego Schwartzman in Istanbul, and now Fognini in Madrid.

His shocking run during the clay court season so far will mean he'll go into the French Open with the worst possible build-up and obviously not the best frame of mind.

However, his bad attitude has not hit his bank balance, with the ATP reporting he had earned $516,268 in prize money so far in 2016 prior to his poor showing in Madrid.

The world number 22 player has been on a shocking run of form since sustaining a wrist injury during the third round of the Indian Wells tournament in March

Tomic has performed abysmally since then, and has lost in the first round of his last three tournaments

Tomic's bad behaviour was slammed on social media and called 'disgusting'

Among other things he was described as being 'a weapons-grade idiot'

For others it was just another normal day in the life of the Australian player 

But despite his earnings Tomic was slammed on social media for his latest show of petulance.

The image of the 23-year-old standing on the baseline holding his racquet head instead of the handle, did not go down well. 

On Twitter he was told to 'grow up' and 'learn to lose gracefully' among other things. 

Despite his bad run of form the ATP reported he had earned $516,268 in prize money so far in 2016

Others were 'sick of these immature players with no sense of sportsmanship'. 

One Twitter user joked 'maybe he had a date waiting', however another found Tomic's behaviour 'disgusting for the sport and Australia'. 

He was also accused of 'continuing his excellent impression of a weapons-grade idiot' despite earning such a huge haul in prize money. 

One twitter user thought that it was about time Tomic should 'learn to lose graciously'   

But it was also pointed out that his bad form did not stop Tomic from earning $516k so far this year 

One person thought that Tomic did it because he had more important things on his mind