Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash reckons it might be time to stop expecting Bernard Tomic to find consistency in his career after his latest controversial loss.
Tomic has been accused of tanking in his defeat to Belgian Steve Darcis this week in Florida.
The 24-year-old appeared to drop his work rate substantially when world No.47 Darcis went up 4-1 in the second set, before the Australian eventually crashed to a 3-6 6-1 6-4 defeat - his third first-round exit this year in four tournaments.
Cash said it was easy to be critical of Tomic and Nick Kyrgios, another mercurial Australian talent who was at something of a crossroads after his own meltdown this year at the Australian Open.
He said it was "our duty" to give world No.32 Tomic another chance, despite admitting it looked like he either wasn't giving his all or was nowhere near fit enough.
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But he also conceded the pair just might not have it in them to reach the very top of the sport.
"The worst thing about Roger Federer, (Novak) Djokovic, (Rafael) Nadal and (Andy) Murray is they've put the bar so high that you can't possibly think everybody can be like that," Cash told reporters on Thursday in Brisbane.
"Everyone else looks kind of lame compared to them.
"To be number one in the world, you have to be consistent every single week of the year and I couldn't work out what that secret was.
"I wouldn't be expecting too much - you keep saying they've got time on their side but, after a while, you say: 'well, we're getting sick of saying that'.
"I'd like to see them doing well, but they're not going to be the most-consistent players of all time."
Cash still would like to see Tomic in the Davis Cup team for April's quarter-final against the United States at Brisbane's Pat Rafter Arena.
Tomic made himself unavailable for the first-round tie against the Czech Republic and Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt had questioned whether he was serious about playing for his country.
"I'm sure Lleyton will want him in the team, as long as it's a team atmosphere," Cash said.
