Updated June 28, 2012 00:01:48
Australians Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt and Matthew Ebden crashed out of Wimbledon in the first round overnight.
The defeats follow the previous night's loss by Marinko Matosevic and mean the second round at the All England Club will be without any male Australian players for the first time since 1938.
Samantha Stosur remains the only Australian left in the singles draw.
Tomic, seeded 20th, went down to Belgian wildcard David Goffin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and admitted afterwards he had "slacked off a bit" in recent times.
Later, Hewitt - who was also a wildcard - was beaten by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Tomic, the 20th seed and a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, arrived at the All England Club in the midst of a woeful run which had seen him fail to get past the second round in 11 of his last 12 tournaments.
That dispiriting sequence included withdrawing from the Wimbledon warm-up in Halle with a stomach virus, then losing in the first round at Eastbourne last week.
The 19-year-old's misery showed no signs of relenting on court two as he failed to emulate last year's impressive run, when he shocked stars Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko en route to becoming the youngest player since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the last eight.
Tomic won the first set against Goffin but after that the match quickly slipped away and the Australian took out his frustrations on his equipment, destroying two racquets.
He was later booed off the court.
"I don't normally do it and it's not like I'll be continuing to do it."
Explaining his loss to Wimbledon debutant Goffin, Tomic told a news conference he has the talent but he has not been working hard enough.
"To have talent is one thing, it's huge for any sport," 20th seed Tomic said.
"But I have sort of slacked off a little bit and look what it's costing me. Last eight, nine weeks I'm losing a lot of first, second rounds. So it's not my quality of tennis.
"My quality of tennis should be getting me to a lot of semi-finals, finals at tournaments or even winning, but lack of concentration, not working hard, it costs you."
Goffin debuted at Wimbledon inspired by his performance at Roland Garros. The Belgian reached the fourth round in Paris as a lucky loser.
"Well, look, he's 21. I'm 18, 19. I've gotten into the top 30," Tomic said. "It's different. He has time and he's going to obviously be a top-30 player. He has great groundstrokes.
"But I think what I've lacked the last few weeks is the consistency and it's tough to get."
Against Goffin, Tomic secured an early break that settled the first set with the minimum fuss.
But there were still too many signs of Tomic's inconsistency in the second set as he dropped serve twice either side of a break of his own.
That was enough for Goffin to level the match and he kept the pressure on Tomic with another break in the first game of the third set.
With Goffin's serve holding up well, Tomic was starting to look increasingly frustrated as the Belgian moved two sets to one ahead.
Tomic's angst only increased in the fourth set as Goffin, who took a set off Roger Federer before losing to 16-time Grand Slam champion in Paris, landed another blow with an early break.
That was enough to shatter Tomic's spirit for good and Goffin was soon celebrating his first ever win on grass.
Tomic was booed off after smashing two racquets during the match, but he says his behaviour was uncharacteristic.
"I'm not normally like that but it's a good way to get relief when you smash a raquet. I don't normally do it and it's not like I'll be continuing to do it."
Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, reduced to being a wildcard at the tournament he won 10 years ago, could never match the firepower of number five seed Tsonga.
He said it was a bad day for the Australian men. Matthew Ebden also bowed out following a 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 loss to France's Benoit Paire.
"There's a lot of different reasons it could have been," Hewitt told reporters.
"Draws, matchups, whatever. But at least three of us, the three guys that played today, I know we could have beaten a lot of guys that are still going in the tournament. That's just how it falls."
Hewitt empathised with Tomic who had done so well at Wimbledon last year.
"It's tough I think that sort of next year after you sort of break through to keep it up and continue doing it," he said.
"Everybody obviously had massive expectations for him to do well. This is his best surface.
"Training-wise I don't know what he's been doing. I wouldn't have a clue. But obviously he's had a frustrating last couple of weeks."
Both Tomic and Hewitt will be back at Wimbledon to represent Australia in the Olympics.
In the women's draw Queensland teenager Ashleigh Barty lost 6-2, 6-4 to Italian 21st seed Roberta Vinci in her first year in the women's singles.
Barty was the 2011 Wimbledon junior girls champion and was not too despondent by the loss.
"I've still got a good record here so I'm looking to improve and come back," Barty said.
Casey Dellacqua also lost 6-2, 6-4 when she went up against ninth seed Marion Bartoli of France.
Stosur, the only remaining Australian in the singles, takes on Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands at 10pm Wednesday night (AEST).
ABC/AFP/REUTERS
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united-kingdom First posted June 26, 2012 23:22:35
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