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SportTennis

Tomic father regrets not 'really punching' French player

Father of Australian star denies assaulting son's training partner but wishes that he really did

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Bernard Tomic

The father of Australian tennis star Bernard Tomic said yesterday he wished now that he had "really punched" his son's French training partner.

John Tomic received an eight-month suspended jail sentence on September 6 for headbutting Thomas Drouet, breaking his nose and knocking him out in May outside a Madrid hotel.

Tomic denied the charges in court and said he acted in self-defence.

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"I know that I didn't do that," Tomic senior told the Sydney Morning Herald. "And I am just now regretting why I didn't punch him, when I see this campaign against Bernard, against me.

"I'm really regretting why I didn't punch him now, because I think that he deserved that. I know that I would be in more trouble in the future, but when I see how he has been lying."

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Australian media published claims from a Drouet diary that Tomic, 49, had hit his son in the face and drew blood in Monte Carlo before heading to Madrid.

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