Tennis: Tomic rakes in big bucks after first-round loss

Bernard Tomic. Photo / Getty Images

Not bad money if Bernard Tomic's cheque has cleared as a first round loser in the Rome Masters.

The 23-year-old Australian retired ill after eight minutes and earned $20,562 or $2570.25 a minute for his tennis exertions.

His latest exit comes after he turned his racquet around to receive match-point and plenty of criticism in the recent Madrid Masters.

The depth of his grit has long been questioned.

A few years ago Tomic lost a match to Jarkko Nieminen in 28 minutes while his bank balance is estimated to have soared beyond $10million.

"I was feeling bad all night," Tomic said about his latest brief appearance.

His per minute pay scale is beyond most of our grasp but it's not yet in the major leagues as calculated by The Celebrities Net Worth website.

They estimate Manny Pacquiao earns $400,000 a minute for his boxing appearances, baseball stars hit $20,000 a minute, Kobe Bryant dunked $20,000 a minute, footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo chip out $12,000 a minute and Sebastien Vettel earns $7200 for every motor-racing minute.