Former world No.1 Mats Wilander has leapt to Bernard Tomic's defence, saying the troubled star was only saying what most other players are feeling when he confessed to struggling for motivation on the court.
Tomic was fined $US15,000 for saying he was "a little bit bored" during his first-round Wimbledon loss to Mischa Zverev and that he didn't respect the sport enough or care about how he performs at grand slams anymore.
But the former junior prodigy also claimed to be mentally fried, at just 24, after almost a decade on the tour and Wilander found the Australian's honesty refreshing.
Wilander won the first of his seven grand slam crowns at 17 and said he could understand where Tomic was coming from.
"I burnt out at 24," the Swede said.
"I thought that was a really good press conference, to be honest. He says what other players won't say. He said what other players are feeling.
"I mean, it's a mistake to tell the locker room that you are maybe like that, but I think it's very well known fact that everybody feels like that sometimes.
"Djokovic did it at the French Open, so it's not a big deal."
Tomic plans to appeal the second-largest single fine in Wimbledon history, claiming he never gave up at any point during his 6-4 6-3 6-4 loss to the big-serving Zverev.
Wilander is advising the one-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist to reconsider his schedule and work on mixing up his game to recharge mentally.
"Try and take some time when you can just work on your game where you can actually improve your game, where you can have off days and it doesn't really matter," he said.
"Give yourself a block of a month's practice because you can see what it's done for Rafa (Nadal) and (Roger) Federer. I don't understand why the other players don't do it more because you get confidence back straight away if you win a couple of matches."
Wilander said he actually enjoyed his tennis more later in his career when he dropped down the rankings but had tweaked his playing style to be more aggressive.
"Bernie's so talented. He should incorporate coming to the net a little bit more, use that slice backhand to come in," he said.
"He's got the game and that keeps you fresh mentally."
While Tomic said he was looking forward to the US hardcourt season, he was also open to cutting back on events despite lacking the hunger to practise harder.
"I'm just speaking honest truth about it," he said.
"Some weeks I play well and beat a bunch of players and do super well in tournaments.
"That's sort of what brought me in the past couple years in the top 20, when I was 19 and 20, 20s, 25 in the world. I was enjoying it.
"But now it's a rollercoaster, and I just can't seem to find, like, the commitment to work hard, to enjoy, and to lift trophies.
"Maybe I have to look at a few things and maybe play less tournaments.
"But, to me right now, I'm just not super pleased, not happy with myself, but I'm in between."
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