He’s a world-famous tennis player who boasts he’s worth $15 million, but it seems Bernard Tomic doesn’t always get what he wants when it comes to matters of the heart.
Desperately trying to impress nurse Tahlia Green – a pretty stranger he found on Facebook – Bernard, 26, bombarded her with hundreds of messages begging her for a date, bragging about his wealth and even propositioning her to have his children.
Now, disgusted with what she calls his “degrading” and “sexist” behaviour, Tahlia, 28, has lifted the lid on their private conversations, explaining that she found Bernard’s constant need to flaunt his fortune “strange” and “off-putting”.
“I had no idea who he was, actually,” she admits. “I was laughing to a friend about the message I’d received and assumed it was a fake account and then he sent me a message telling me to google him.”
WATCH: Bernard Tomic says he doesn’t love tennis. Post continues after video…
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Bad boy
The controversial tennis player, who is known for his bad behaviour on and off the court, first contacted Tahlia in October 2018, saying he found her attractive, before following up with a string of lewd messages. Tahlia at first ignored the unsolicited messages, but was shocked when Bernard video-called from Melbourne’s Crown.
She says, “He was just sitting there in the dark, all alone in the nightclub that looked like it was closed and kept repeating, “Am I real? Am I real?”
Initially flattered by the attention, Tahlia began chatting to Bernard, but things quickly became awkward when he compared her appearance to his ex and became controlling.
“U know when we go out in Melbourne I’ll close the whole club, I was one of 2 people in Aus to ever spend $50,000 in a club,” he wrote in one text. In another pushy text, Bernard wrote, “Can I fly you to GC during the week, stay in my 10m house.”
In one text, Bernard brags about spending $50,000 in a Melbourne club.
(Image exclusive to Woman’s Day)
In another text, Bernard offers to fly Tahlia to his $10m Gold Coast home.
(Image exclusive to Woman’s Day)He’d lock me up
Tahlia recalls, “I received a lot of messages stating he would ‘date’ me and ‘lock me up’, so nobody else would have me.
“He sent me the pregnant emoji and said that he would do that quickly because he knew that would make me his.”
But when she turned down his offer to fly her around the world with him on tour, Bernard wasn’t fazed – and continued to send videos of his mansions and sports cars alongside their current value.
“I didn’t imagine the dreamy or desirable life he was trying to show me,” she says. “I found him to be very childish and narcissistic.”
“He sent me the pregnant emoji and said that he would do that quickly because he knew that would make me his.”
(Image exclusive to Woman’s Day)Sexist words
It was after a string of sexually explicit messages that Tahlia found particularly offensive that she decided to confront him about his behaviour.
“His choice of wording is very sexist and degrading towards women,” she says. “I explained to him that I would never allow that kind of degradation and he did say he was sorry.”
“His choice of wording is very sexist and degrading towards women.”
(Images: Supplied/Getty Images)But Tahlia says after he repeatedly asked to get her pregnant – when they had never even met in person – she knew he would never change.
“I don’t want to put myself in that type of situation and lower myself, regardless of his social status and wealth,” she says. “And I want other girls to know they don’t need to devalue themselves either.”
