It seems a pretty pathetic, worn-out, throwaway line for what is really going on: you have no respect.

Right on the biggest stage in tennis – a mecca for tennis fans and royalty, where the strawberries and crème de la crème of British society packed the stands with Australian Fanatics – and you could not be bothered.

Finals are this weekend and you could have been out there, because you have the talent. You have to love the game enough to pull off the shots you can, because you now it is exciting tennis.

Wimbledon for tennis, is bigger than the Olympics. 

What happened this week goes beyond whether you love the sport or not. You had a job to do at the All-England Club: try to give your best on the day.

Not feeling it? Suck it up, focus and do your job then take an extended break away from the court.

The first set was pretty even until your forehand into the net gave Andy Murray the first set. Then it seemed you cracked the sulks like a spoilt little kid.

No respect for your opponent. No respect for officials honoured to be working or volunteering courtside. No respect for the people who forked out good money for Wimbledon centre court seats. No respect for those of us at home in Australia staying staying up late to watch you play. 

No respect for the game.

This comes in a week when humble leader and dual Olympic champion Anna Meares was named to carry out nation’s flag for the Olympic opening ceremony in Rio.

The AOC declared Anna earned the honour for excellence on the track and for how she goes about what she does.

Anna is a role model for a discipline that gets far less attention than tennis.

You are a role model too, Nick, but you need to decide soon what kind of behaviour you really want to model. We are losing patience with beyond-bratty outbursts.

You say you are proud to represent Australia. You need to remind us because that lacklustre performance against Murray looked like you could not be bothered.

Colourful characters in the game are fantastic. If that is how you want to be, you need to back it up.

American SuperBrat John McEnroe could serve up a big outburst – but his outbursts were fuelled by his passion for the game, not his frustration playing it.

And McEnroe could back up his talk with his tennis.

McEnroe was disappointed with you behaviour and says you need to work on your game mentally and physically if you are to reach the top. And you can. If you focus.

Murray had to dig deep to win his quarter-final in the fifth after playing you this week. Roger Federer fought back from two sets down.

This takes strong mental toughness and tennis is a game built on mental toughness – no matter how far down you are, you are still in the fight until your opponent captures that match point.

You will not win every match, but if you are going to be out there, at least have a real hot go.