Tomic stands by coach father

Bernard Tomic's father accompanied his son to Paris despite being barred from attending any events sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis, the Australian said on Tuesday.

After losing in the first round of the French Open, Tomic stood by his dad, John, who faces a court case for assaulting his son's former practice partner Frenchman Thomas Drouet this month in Madrid.

Drouet now works as Marion Bartoli's hitting partner while John Tomic, who claims he acted in self defense, came to Paris with his son, although he was not allowed to enter the stadium.

Tomic retired from his match against Romanian Victor Hanescu while 7-5, 7-6 (8), 2-1 down with a leg problem.

The 20-year-old Tomic said in a pre-media conference statement that he would not answer questions about his father - although he did eventually talk about how he has been coping with the situation.

"(My father) is here right now in Paris, so he's still working with me, he's still my dad, he's still my coach, and I love him a lot," said Tomic.

"Involving the incidents that happened, I don't want to talk about it a lot - or at all, I should say. And it's a very difficult thing for me to put my words into that."

He was then quizzed about the subject and revealed he was looking for someone to help him and his father going into the grass-court season.

Tomic, however, said the off-court events involving his father had not affected his tennis.

"The last two weeks, I was training well, playing well, didn't think a lot about it, was not worried," he said.

The case was postponed until October by a Madrid court.

John Tomic could be handed a prison sentence of up to three years and a possible fine if found guilty on a charge of causing criminal injury.

Reuters