Source : ABC NEWS
Every year, the Australian Open has its lightning-rod moment that truly sets the tournament alight.
After a relatively subdued start to this year’s tournament — by its own lofty standards at least — the Australian Open burst to life on day five courtesy of America’s Danielle Collins.
Global superstars have graced Melbourne Park for decades upon decades, yet none of them get the locals in the stands firing like a lowly-ranked Aussie underdog.
On Thursday night, Collins found herself locked in a heavy-duty tussle against not only Australian world number 195, Destanee Aiava, but a rowdy home crowd baying for the blood of a seeded player.
What ensued throughout the match and then immediately after match point evoked all kinds of emotions.
Collins, who had obviously been annoyed by the pro-Aiava crowd throughout the match, taunted them mercilessly. It was something you were more likely to see at Wrestlemania rather than a grand slam tournament.
Tennis purists were sickened at the whole thing, both by the fans cheering Collins’s foul serves, and by Collins telling them to stick it in no uncertain terms after her win.
Australian fans turned on Collins, who is perhaps the greatest pantomime villain the sport has to offer.
Here is the problem if you’re planning to die on either of these hills — tennis actually needs both the rowdy fans and the pantomime villains.
If you’ve followed Collins’s career at all, her being the player in the middle of this firestorm should not be the slightest surprise.
The 31-year-old is the classic brash American who isn’t afraid to talk the talk and will beef with literally anyone at any given time if she feels like it.
Collins famously had a frosty handshake with Polish star Iga Świątek after their meeting at the Olympics last year. (Getty Images: Tnani Badreddine)
The way Collins operates, everyone is fair game when it comes to trash talk. It doesn’t matter if you’re a random Aussie punter or a five-time grand slam champ like Iga Świątek, literally no one is spared.
Barely 24 hours after Collins told the Aussie crowd to stick it, the man who has won at Melbourne Park more than anyone in the history of the Australian Open, also fought fire with fire.
Tomáš Macháč put up a valiant fight against Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena, but Djokovic’s biggest opposition proved to be some rowdy hecklers in the stands.
Although Djokovic was visibly heated both throughout the contest and afterwards, he was also understanding of all the theatre while admitting “a few people” in the stands crossed the mark.
“I understand you have few drinks more, and then you get into it,” he told reporters at Melbourne Park.
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“But, you know, on the court it’s frustrating, and it comes in a bad moment. If it’s repetitive, it happens for an hour, somebody tells you in the corner things that you don’t want to hear and constant provoking, then of course it comes to the point where you just respond.
“I tried to tolerate, but then at one point I had to respond, and that’s all. That’s all to say about it.”
Collins may have the whole country of Australia against her, but it appears she’s got the 10-time Australian Open champion in her corner.
“I loved her response. I loved it, everything she said on the court, off the court,” Djokovic said.
“Big fan of Danielle Collins after that. I was before, but now, big fan. I love it.
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“I heard some comments of people that she shouldn’t have said that or that.
“I think she handled it really well. I don’t think I would be that polite, and I know exactly the feeling.
“So I think she was funny, smart, and just big fan of what she did. Big fan.”
Collins’s response to the crowd may have lacked the decorum of the classy greats of yesteryear, but you can bet your bottom dollar her next match will be one of the most-viewed for the entire tournament.
Collins is up against her compatriot Madison Keys, who will be backed by the Aussie crowd like she’s a resident of Oakleigh rather than Orlando. That cannot be classed as anything but a major win for the sport.
Nothing gets the pulses racing like a battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’. It’s the single basis for some of the highest-grossing films of all-time. Sport is no different.
Novak Djokovic was extremely frustrated by the crowd during his clash against Tomáš Macháč. (Reuters: Edgar Su)
Some of the most memorable contests have come between players who have been willing to wear the black hat of the villain and the traditional crowd favourite.
Djokovic played the villain role masterfully when he began to disturb tennis’s status quo of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal exchanging every grand slam title in the early 2010s.
He’s been around long enough to eventually go from the villain to the hero, another character arc people love to see.
If other sports all around the world benefit from players willing to play the villain role, why should tennis be any different?
“We have the history and tradition that we are proud of and makes our sport different from other sports,” Djokovic explained when asked if tennis should be less precious about player-fan interactions.
“At the same time, I think we have been a little bit behind the other sports with changes and trying to keep the pace with the evolution of society and the new generation that we all know doesn’t have that much of a great attention span, and they want the movement.”
Collins, like Djokovic, embraced her back-and-forth with the crowd.
“I loved it. I’ve been doing this my whole life. I love playing in a crowd that has energy, regardless of what side they’re on,” she said after the win over Aiava.
“I’m somebody, too, it kind of just motivates me even more. So it’s kind of a good thing, especially when I’m not playing that well.
“So I think it really helped me in the end. Just helped me concentrate more and challenged me at times. Just, yeah, pushed me kind of through the finish line.
“I think there were a lot of people that were super drunk and had a hard time controlling themselves and were really excited. I think, too, they wanted to continue to see a good, long, hard match.
“I’m from a different country, here competing against someone that’s from here.
“Ultimately, it was a pretty cool environment, I thought. Even though it was pretty rowdy, this girl loves it.”
It is a fine line to walk for the sport’s administrators. Fans pay good money to come and watch players like Djokovic play on centre court, and don’t necessarily want to be told how and when to cheer. On the other hand, paying money doesn’t suddenly mean you’re entitled to abuse players for hours on end.
However, fans being loud and boisterous often raises not only the atmosphere in the arena, but also the level of competition between the players, who suddenly feel amped up.
Sit inside John Cain Arena for a Kyrgios match and then inside literally any other court in Melbourne Park and you’ll notice the level of excitement drop.
Serbian fans packed out Rod Laver Arena to watch Novak Djokovic in action on Friday night. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
As long as they’re not disruptive or abusive, fans should be encouraged to create chaos in the stands.
While getting newer fans to shift their eyes to the sport is imperative, tennis is one of those sports where tradition is still held high.
Djokovic suggested he’d even be a fan of NBA-style cheerleaders dancing in between sets, as long as that doesn’t happen at Wimbledon.
We’re probably decades away from getting cheerleaders, DJs, T-shirt guns and more in the middle of grand slam tennis matches.
But in the meantime, some playful banter between fans and players can act as the bridge that allows tennis to reach more eyeballs in coming years.
