‘You had a few already’ – Australian Open party courts will go nowhere despite Novak Djokovic and Danielle Collins warning
Novak Djokovic confronted a heckler during his Australian Open match.
The Serbian joins Danielle Collins as the latest star to face the plight of rowdy audiences down under.
3
Djokovic points to a heckler in the crowdDjokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion won in straight sets to defeat Czech star Tomas Machac in the third round on Friday.
Meanwhile, Collins went viral for her reaction to fans who jeered the American for the entirety of her match against Australian Destanee Aiava.
Despite a straight-forwad result for the ten-time Australian Open champion, the Serb was forced to deal with hecklers inside the Rod Laver Arena.
Booing and heckling has become somewhat of a norm at Melbourne Park and players have called for organisers to deal with party courts where fans get intoxicated.
READ MORE TENNISDjokovic was heckled multiple times during his win, at one point the 37-year-old even celebrated a point by pointing directly at the heckler before clenching his fist in delight.
The 2023 Australian Open champion faced more heckling during his on-court interview after the match in which he poked a bit fun at the individual before calling out his drunkenness.
“Sorry mate, I have a wife. We can have a drink though… maybe you had a few already,” the Serb calmly replied, though there is no suggestion the person in question was intoxicated.
“Him and I were going back-and-forth for quite a while actually.”
The likes of Collins and Jack Draper also faced intense jeers during their own respective clashes.
Draper dealt with his jeers by cupping his ears towards the crowd following his second-round win while the American decided to blow kisses and boast of her ‘big fat pay cheque.’
3
Collins also suffered taunting from the crowd
3
Jack Draper responds to the crowdCollins, 31, took a different approach following her win, deciding to taunt the crowd back by slapping her bottom, cupping her ears and shouting ‘how about that’ after her win.
“Well I’m going to be here for two hours, putting up with all these people, I might as well take the bigger pay cheque, right?” Collins said after match.
“I think there were a lot of people that were super drunk and had a hard time controlling themselves and were really excited.”
While Draper embraced the hostility of the crowd, saying: ‘“This is what I play for since I was a young guy, I wanted to play in front of big crowds and whether you guys are with me or against me.”
Despite concerns from players raised about rowdy crowds, Tennis Australia and organisers from the Australian Open have pressed on with their expansion of bars and alcohol in the grounds.
Court Six saw a two-storey bar constructed on the eastern sideline in vision of the court while general alcohol offerings increased as two new bars were built next to the two main practice courts at Melbourne Park.
US tennis star Danielle Collins’ is booed and reacts to hostile Australian Open crowd
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who lost to Paula Badosa on the court six in last year’s edition, said spectators were “meowing” at her.
The same court this year hosted a rowdy crowd when Jacob Fearnley took on Arthur Cazaux, something the Brit noticed.
“I actually didn’t really look at the court before I went on, so when I saw the bar, I was thinking it’s going to be a pretty rowdy atmosphere,” Fearnley said after his second round win.
With just over a week to go in Australia and Alex De Minuar the only Aussie left in the touranment, players will be hoping the booing stops in Melbourne.
