Relive the biggest feuds, fines and blow-ups from the 2018 Australian Open
THERE have been plenty of seriously memorable moments at this year’s Australian Open. And some of them have had nothing to do with tennis. Recap the best feuds, blow-ups and all the other unusual moments from Melbourne Park.
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There has been no shortage of amazing moments this Australian Open.
From Roger Federer’s dominance to the rise of cult hero Hyeon Chung and Caroline Wozniacki adding her name to the list of women’s grand slam champions, the highlights have come thick and fast from Melbourne Park.
But not all the memorable moments from the past two weeks have happened on the court.
There have been plenty of, shall we say, “other” highlights throughout the tournament.
Just in case you’ve forgotten, recap the biggest blow-ups, dummy spits, feuds, fines and all the other unusual moments from this year’s Open.
JELENA DOKIC: IS TENNIS BORING WITHOUT SERENA?
JELENA DOKIC: WHY SHARAPOVA HAS NO FRIENDS
JELENA DOKIC: MY TIME IN TENNIS
JELENA DOKIC: WHY AUSTRALIA MUST GET BEHIND NICK
NICK KYRGIOS’ WILD NIGHT ON HISENSE
It will be remembered as the night Nick Kyrgios officially became too big for his favourite court.
In front of a packed house on Hisense Arena, the Aussie was forced to deal with continual crowd noise, a dodgy P.A system and a helicopter that wouldn’t go away in his match with Serbian Viktor Troicki.
But all that fuss didn’t even come close to the weirdest moment of the night.
A YouTube “comedian” decided he would interrupt the match by running down to the front row and filming himself screaming.
The man described it as the best moment of his life. He was later kicked out of the tournament.
‘THIS IS NOT MY DAY’
Spare a thought for umpire James Keothavong, who was the man in charge for the wild night on Hisense.
As he delicately juggled having to keep Nick Kyrgios happy, maintain order in the crowd and actually umpire the match, things took a final turn for the worse in the third set.
Kyrgios’ opponent, Viktor Troicki, collected Keothavong with a shanked return. Troicki was very quick to apologise and Keothavong was even quicker to see the lighter side of things.
“This is not my day,” he could be heard saying into the microphone.
"It's not my day is it... my God!"#AusOpen Chair Umpire James Keothavong dealt with a ðŸš, intrusive fans, a pesky 🎤... and to top it all off, an almighty 🤕🎾.
— #7TENNIS 🎾 (@7tennis) January 17, 2018
His reaction? 😂
Well played, Sir. Well played. 👠pic.twitter.com/ehaWShSTXg
‘YOU WANT ME TO CHANGE ON COURT?’
In one of the weirdest exchanges between a player and an umpire during the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal had to haggle with the main official over leaving the court to get changed.
Given the hot conditions in Melbourne, Nadal wanted to change his shorts after the first set of his match with Diego Schwartzman. However, the umpire initially said that leaving the court would cost Rafa one of his bathroom breaks.
Players receive two bathroom breaks per match.
A bemused Rafa asked, “So, if I want to change my shorts, I have to change it here?”
Luckily, the umpire finally saw sense and allowed the Spaniard to duck into the players’ entrance tunnel.
.@RafaelNadal wants to change shorts off-court, but doesn't want it to be considered a bathroom break (he only gets 2).
— #7TENNIS 🎾 (@7tennis) January 21, 2018
Thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Si0TBgQ7DR
‘YOU GUYS NEVER DO YOUR JOBS, NEVER!’
Aussie Jordan Thompson was fuming with the umpire in his first-round match after a controversial hawk eye decision went against him.
Following a late out call on a Thompson ground stroke, which was eventually ruled in, the umpire deemed the point would be replayed rather than awarding it to the Australian.
Given the call from the linesman was late and his opponent missed the ball, Thompson was furious.
“You guys never do your jobs, never,” Thompson yelled at the time.
“Tell me he was going to make the ball, tell me that.”
He was quickly backed by fellow Aussie Daria Gavrilova, who tweeted, “Thomo is right.”
"You guys never do your jobs... never!" 🇦🇺 @jordanthommmo2 🔥 up after THIS line call.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/waFzftfeEH
— #7TENNIS 🎾 (@7tennis) January 16, 2018
OH BABY, DO SOMETHING!
It was the question Donna Vekic couldn’t get out of her head. Who brings a baby to the tennis?
In her match with former Open champion Angelique Kerber, Vekic was left fuming after a baby in the crowd continued to cry.
At one stage, Vekic approached the chair umpire and begged for something to be done.
However, the umpire explained she couldn’t ask for the child to be removed.
That isn’t the case at Wimbledon, with the All England Club introducing a rule stating that no child under five years of age is allowed court side.
‘HIDING THE GUT?’ MURRAY TROLLS KYRGIOS
Andy Murray might not be in Melbourne for the Australian Open but he is still blasting winners. The former world no.1 took a social media swipe at Aussie Nick Kyrgios over his “gut”.
Kyrgios posted a photo of himself on Instagram on his couch with his dog, and a pillow covering his stomach. His caption was “Brothers”.
Murray, who is recovering from surgery and is clearly bored out of his mind, commented on the photo saying, “Pillow strategically placed to cover the gut?’
There hasn’t been a reply from Kyrgios yet, but we know there will be one coming…
FIRST DAY, FIRST FEUD
It may have only been hours into the opening day, but things got heated very quickly between American Ryan Harrison and his opponent, Dudi Sela.
The two clashed numerous times during their first-round match, at one stage having a long exchange at the net in which the umpire almost had to intervene.
Harrison also grew frustrated with some of Sela’s fans who were very vocal from courtside.
COCO GOES BANANAS, REALLY!
American CoCo Vandeweghe can be pretty fiery on court. And this year, it has hurt her bank balance.
Vandeweghe was fined $10,000 for a stunning outburst in her first round loss to Timea Babos.
Video of the incident showed Vandeweghe shouting out, “F--- you, you f---ing b----”, to Babos and throwing her racquet in disgust.
However, it wasn’t even the weirdest moment of her match.
The American star at one point refused to play until she was brought a banana.
She was literally going bananas over bananas.
“I’m waiting for the bananas,” she told chair umpire Fergus Murphy when he asked why she wasn’t ready to play at the start of the second set.
“Why should I feel uncomfortable because the court is ill-prepared?”
NICK MEETS WILL
Plenty of big name celebrities attended this year’s Australian Open, but few were bigger than movie mega-star Will Smith.
After his win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nick Kyrgios was asked if he noticed Smith watching on during the match.
Kyrgios went on to explain how much he likes Smith, but not as much as one of his co-stars.
“When I saw him out here, I was so nervous. No joke. I was like, ‘Oh my God’. People think I’m cool, but I wanted him to think I was the coolest person ever,” Kyrgios said.
“I’ve gotta tell him. I have Focus on my phone. I watch every time I have a flight. It’s the best movie.
“But it’s because of Margot Robbie.”
Kyrgios and Smith got a selfie together after the match.
ANCHORMAN CRASHES RLA
Plenty would agree that when it comes to post-match interviews, there aren’t many better combinations than Jim Courier and Roger Federer.
But maybe now there is a little competition.
Anchorman star Will Ferrell was a surprise guest at Federer’s on-court interview after his win over Aljaž Bedene.
“Roger, tonight you seemed like a gazelle out there on the court, would you describe your game as like a silky gazelle?,” Ferrell asked.
“Maybe? Maybe not. A gazelle, don’t they get eaten at the end?” Federer responded.
The two continued to trade jokes, leaving the Rod Laver Arena crowd in stitches.
THE ART OF THE DUMMY SPIT, WHO DID IT BETTER?
It wouldn’t be the Australian Open without a couple of classic dummy spits. And over a two-week tournament, there were plenty of contenders for who did it best.
There were amazing scenes on Margaret Court Arena with the crowd chanting “code violation” at Alex Dolgopolov after he refused to play following a dubious call.
The controversy started when Dolgopolov’s shoe came off during a point. The point was originally called “let” however, it was later awarded to Aussie Matt Ebden.
Dolgopolov and the umpire then engaged in a long, long chat.
Meanwhile, you know a player is really fired up when they demand the tournament referee attends the court.
This happened to Brit Kyle Edmund in Thursday night’s semi-final against Marin Cilic.
Edmund was left seething after the umpire refused to replay a point after a challenge.
He argued that the linesman’s call impacted his shot. The umpire didn’t agree.
“Of course it affected me,” an angry Edmund said to the umpire. “Get the referee, that’s rubbish.”
ICYMI: 🇬🇧 @kyle8edmund couldn't believe this point was awarded against him and summoned the tournament referee. What do you think? #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/K9vtArBald
— #7TENNIS 🎾 (@7tennis) January 25, 2018
FINES, FINES AND MORE FINES
The biggest fine of the tournament went to German Mischa Zverev who was slugged $56,165 for an unprofessional first-round performance.
Nick Kyrgios was fined $3000 for unsportsmanlike conduct in his first round win.
Kygios was heard telling a rowdy spectator to “shut the f ... up” during a 6-1 6-2 6-4 rout of Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva.
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