Bernard Tomic’s phone was reportedly seized as part of an investigation into match-fixing that focused on two tennis matches, including a headline-grabbing contest at the 2022 Australian Open qualifying.

A report from The Age claims a police strike force was created in 2022 to probe Tomic, whose career has spiralled since reaching a career-high ranking of world No.17 in 2016.

Tomic was not charged.

The 32-year-old stumbled to a straight-sets defeat in round one of Australian Open qualifying earlier this month, having returned to play in Melbourne for the first time in three years.

The Age says multiple bookmakers raised concerns about suspicious betting on two matches Tomic lost.

The fixtures under the microscope were allegedly the Australian’s 6-1 6-4 loss to Russian Roman Safiullin at the 2022 Australian Open qualifying tournament, and a 6-0 6-1 loss to Frenchman Quentin Halys in Turkey in late 2021.

The operation was reportedly led by NSW Police, with help from their Victorian and Queensland counterparts and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

The Age says the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) also ran a separate probe, seizing Tomic’s phone.

Tomic’s antics during the 2022 loss to Safiullin made headlines at the time, with the fallend star having told the chair umpire he was struggling on court because of COVID-19.

“In the next two days I will test positive, I’m telling you,” he said from his chair during the match.

“I’ll buy you dinner if I don’t test positive in three days, otherwise you buy me dinner.”

Tomic shot to fame when he became the youngest player, aged 16 in 2009, to win a men’s main-draw match at the Australian Open, then stormed into the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finals as a qualifier.

But the Queenslander has struggled to fulfil that potential, having last year earned just over $100,000 playing in Challenger and Future events in tennis’s backwaters.