Furious Tennis Star Calls Australian Open 'The Wokest Tournament Ever' After Learning of New Rule Change
An Australian tennis star lashed out at his own nation’s Grand Slam tournament after he learned about a new rule in the middle of a match.
Jordan Thompson vented his frustration during a match Monday against fellow Australian Aleksandar Vukic, according to Sky News Australia.
He prepared to serve, but stopped when he noticed crowd movement that was a distraction.
The umpire told spectators to find seats, so the fifth game of the set could be played. Thompson, who won the match, was upset that the fans were bustling about and vented his concerns.
At that point, according to Yahoo Sports Austrailia, Thompson learned that a rule change allowed fans to come and go between games, and not just when the players change ends.
🇦🇺🎪🎾😂💯
Tennis player Jordan Thompson calls the Australian Open the ‘wokest tournament ever’ he ain’t wrong about that haha.https://t.co/KBJUa2iAZE pic.twitter.com/9D1jicVjms
— Australiaforfreedom (@Austforfreedom) January 15, 2024
“You’re kidding me. Really? Oh my God, this is the wokest tournament ever,” Thompson erupted on the court.
After his victory, he said that the comment came during the “heat of the battle” and that he “probably shouldn’t have said it,” according to Australia News.
Thompson said both the content and timing of the rule change bothered him.
“How many years which have we been playing tennis, and then all of a sudden they spring on us that they can come in between not even a sit-down. So it just disrupts everyone’s rhythm,” he said.
“I mean, if someone is walking at the back and you are throwing the ball toss up, it’s impossible to see it because you have a moving person behind it.”
He sought to make an analogy about disrupting a meeting.
“We are out there working. That’s our job, we’re tennis players. We don’t come in and storm into an office while someone is in a meeting,” he said.
“Like someone is just barging through the door, making a nuisance. Even though it doesn’t seem that way, but it is. It’s very off-putting,” he said.
Noval Djokovic, the world’s No. 1 player, expressed mixed feelings about the rule change.
“Look, I mean, I understand the motive behind it is to enhance and improve the experience for fans, right? We do play for fans. We want fans to have a great, thrilling experience of being out on the court,” he said.
“It’s hard, I must say. I understand that, and I support it to some extent, but at the same time all my career, all my life I’ve been used to some kind of atmosphere. When that changes, it kind of messes up, distracts you a bit,” he said.
“Today we lost quite a bit of time when they were letting people in to come to their seats, even though it was not a changeover. My opponent would wait for them to sit down. It dragged a lot,” he said.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka agreed with Thompson, saying tennis seems to “keep making some rules that make no sense,” according to ESPN.
“Like we’re trying to [shorten] the changeovers, then we are waiting for people to sit down. Like, of course we can try to play with people moving, but it is distracting,” she said.
A fan became part of the action in a different way on Wednesday, according to the BBC.
Djokovic told one spectator to “come down and tell it to my face” after being heckled.
“Don’t poke the bear” 👀
Novak Djokovic responds to a member of the crowd looking to get under his skin 🍿 pic.twitter.com/1S9wQxwemg
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 17, 2024
“There was a lot of things that were being told to me on the court, particularly from that corner and the same side in the other corner. I was tolerating it for most of the match. At one point I had enough, and I asked him whether he wanted to come down and tell it to my face,” Djokovic said.
“He didn’t have the courage to come down. That’s what I was asking him. If you have courage, if you’re such a tough guy, come down and tell it to my face, and let’s have a discussion about it,” he said.
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