Why booing of Novak Djokovic marks a ‘new low’ for disgraceful Australian Open crowds

The crowds at Melbourne Park have been out of control for years, and Friday’s disgraceful booing of the Australian Open’s greatest-ever player marked a new low for the “happy slam”, writes Julian Linden.

So much for the so-called Happy Slam.

The vulgar booing of Novak Djokovic marks a new low for the Australian Open.

Tennis administrators need to take a fresh look at themselves in the mirror and do better in future because the disgraceful scenes that took place should never be allowed to happen again.

The crowds at Melbourne Park have been out of control for years, almost exclusively targeting foreign players, but the classless send-off that Djokovic copped on Friday afternoon went way beyond the pale.

Forget for a moment that he’s the greatest player of all time. Or that he has won the Australian Open a record 10 times. Or that he had a shot at breaking Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam singles titles.

For any player to withdraw from a match because of physical injury then be subjected to hisses and jeers by the crowd is a national embarrassment.

Kudos then to Germany’s Alexander Zverev for delaying his celebratory winner’s speech to scold the crowd for their unruly antics.

Props too to John McEnroe, who had wrongly accused Djokovic of exaggerating his injuries in previous matches, for going into bat for the Serbian on this occasion.

“He’s won this 10 times – I mean, come on,” McEnroe said. “When he decided he couldn’t go on, after what he’s done here, I thought was absolutely ludicrous.”

Australia’s John Millman also let rip at the yobbos who thought it was acceptable to boo the GOAT.

“The crowds have been questioned a lot and rightly so. It’s a bit of a shambles, some of the behaviour has crossed the line and that one takes the cake for me …. have some respect.”

Djokovic has always been an easy target for fans at the Australian Open, and has riled them at times by pushing back at drunken hecklers. But that’s still no justification for the boorish conduct that took place on Friday.

The argument that paying spectators were venting their frustration at being short-changed after forking out big bucks to see a match that only went one set, also doesn’t pass the pub test.

Novak Djokovic departs Rod Laver Arena on Friday. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images.

None of the English fans who saw Don Bradman get bowled for a duck in his last Test match in 1948 humiliated him when he walked off the ground.

If disgruntled fans wanted someone to direct their anger at, they would have been better off pointing the finger at Tennis Australia, who have been raking in millions of dollars each year with their boozy promotions on site and also their late-night scheduling policy.

By scheduling separate day and night sessions, Tennis Australia effectively sells the same seats at Rod Laver Arena twice each day.

That’s been a cash cow for organisers but isn’t always a great deal for players and spectators because when matches end early, frustrations can and do boil over into ugly scenes.

Originally published as Why booing of Novak Djokovic marks a ‘new low’ for disgraceful Australian Open crowds