Bernard Tomic has earned notoriety for the manner some of his matches have finished during a roller-coaster career.

But the Aussie veteran endured another first in Chicago this week when a match went begging in unusual circumstances that, unfortunately for Tomic, have a twist of dark comedy about them.

A couple of days after taking another significant stride towards his goal of returning to the top 100 with a strong performance in Kentucky, the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist was on the cusp of victory when he stumbled, literally.

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Having returned to the top 200 for the first time since the pandemic in 2020 after reaching the final of an ATP Challenger event in Kentucky last week, Tomic was well positioned in his opening round match in Chicago against American Stefan Dostanic.

Holding a match point on return while leading 7-6 5-4, he bunted a backhand back but got himself into a tangle when moving around the serve directed at his body and lost his feet. As he fell heavily on to his back, his racquet when flying in the other direction.

Soon after Tomic, who holds the unfortunate distinction of having lost the quickest ever ATP Masters level match when beaten 6-0 6-1 to Jarkko Nieminen in just 28 minutes in the Miami Open in 2014, was out of the Chicago tournament as well.

Now ranked 183 on a live estimate, the Queenslander dropped the second set in a tiebreaker and lasted only a couple of games in the third set before withdrawing citing general fatigue.

Despite the setback, Tomic shapes as a prospect to play in qualifying for the US Open, which announced a massive prize money hike on Wednesday, for the first time since 2018 given his movement up the rankings.

The cut-off for the rankings was last month, with Tomic sitting at 209 at the time, which should ensure him a spot in the 128 player draw for the event held the week prior to the richest ever grand slam tournament.

Bernard Tomic has posted some good wins in 2025 and will be chasing his first grand slam main draw appearance since 2021 should he earn a spot in the US Open qualifying.Source: Supplied

The US Tennis Association announced that it will offer A$138 million in player compensation for the major starting in a fortnight, with the respective men’s and women’s champions to pocket A$7.7 million in prize money.

Even the runners-up will pocket more than Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys earned when winning A$3.5 million for their successes at the Australian Open in January, with the finalist at Flushing Meadows pocketing A$3.85 million this year.

Players earning a main draw spot are guaranteed an opening round purse of almost A$170,000, while Tomic would be eligible for at least A$41,500 just for earning a spot in qualifying in what the USTA called a “deliberate and concerted effort” to boost prize money.

“This follows years of a strategic focus on redistribution to the early rounds and Qualifying tournament to provide meaningful payouts to all players,” the USTA said it a press release.

Tennis has grappled with how to finance a bigger pool of players for years, with it well known that those ranked outside the top 150 struggle to break even.

As a case in point, Tomic made just under A$13,000 for reaching the final of the tournament in Lexington last week, but will more than double that prize money if he steps on to court at Flushing Meadows in a fortnight.