The career graph of Australian tennis star Bernard Tomic has plummeted so drastically in recent years and the current turn of events would certainly not favour him in overturning his fortunes on the court any time soon.

Tomic made a surprising exit from the tournament, failing to qualify for the main draw after losing his qualifier to Italian world number 218, Lorenzo Sonego 6-1, 6-7(5-7), 6-4 in the final round in Melbourne, following Tennis Australia’s decision not to offer him a wildcard.

It will be the first time the two-time junior Grand Slam champion will not be featuring in a Grand Slam event in seven years and from once being ranked 17 in the world, now languishes at 142nd.

But, more than the performance, the sarcastic remarks he made to journalists asking to shed light on his outing, has taken the tennis world by storm.

He said: “I just count money, that's all I do.

“You go do what I did[on court]. You go make 13-14 million.

"Good luck guys. Bye bye.” 

The statement has not gone down well with experts and fans, with former world number one Andy Roddick leading the line of chorus for his criticism.

The American ace took to social media platform to express his thoughts on the incident.

He firstly wrote on Twitter: “Maybe stop for a second and think of the millions you’ve left on the table…”

The 2003 US Open champion did not sympathise with Tomic, especially for the arrogance he showed during the aftermath of his contest with his Italian counterpart.

One fan tweeted to him not be so harsh as the Aussie was already getting enough animosity from everywhere.

Roddick replied by saying: “Self inflicted ..... no sympathy here. I’m not upset for you defending anyone you want to. I just strongly disagree. Feel free to write what you want in your account ... I’ll handle mine.”

However, this was not the first time the 25-year-old has been at the centre of controversy as he was fined $15,000 (£11,581) in Wimbledon last year for saying he was ‘bored’ and faked an injury during his defeat to Mischa Zverev of Germany.

Tomic ruled himself out of the Rio Olympics in 2016 citing “extremely busy schedule”, a year after he was dropped by Tennis Australia from the Davis Cup squad.

His actions garnered severe criticism from all quarters back then.

An abysmal beginning to 2018, Tomic’s performance will push him further down the world standings when the new set of rankings are released.