Australian tennis player Tomic charged over driving offences

Jan 31, 2012, 10:25 GMT

Sydney - Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic has been charged over a traffic incident on the Gold Coast last week in which the 19-year-old was stopped twice within two hours.

Queensland Police said Tuesday they had issued Tomic a court appearance notice on charges that he illegally crossed double white lines and failed to stop when ordered to do so.

Tomic, bundled out of the fourth round of the Australian Open last week by Roger Federer, was pulled over three times. He also refused to meet police when they arrived at his home.

'He has been charged with one count each of keeping to the left of the two continuous dividing lines and fail to stop a motor vehicle,' police said in a statement on the January 26 incident. 'He is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on February 14.'

German-born Tomic, who emigrated to Australia with his Croatian-born parents when he was 3, is also being investigated over allegations of dangerous driving last year.

Tomic holds a provisional licence that prevents others his age driving high-powered vehicles, but has a special dispensation allowing him to drive his 250-kilometre-per-hour V8 BMW M3

Tomic claimed that police are targeting him. 'They've given me three tickets and one officer feels like he wants to get me and it's not a good feeling,' he was reported as saying.