During his first-round encounter at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic complained to the chair umpire that he was wasting ’30, 40, 50 seconds’ because of spectators shifting after every game. It was clear that restrictions had been lifted and players were still complaining two days later.
On Tuesday, players blasted tournament organizers for failing to provide them with adequate notice of the decision to allow spectators to leave the courts in between matches. In the past, fans were only permitted to enter and leave the venue during changeovers.
With his record 24 Grand Slam victories, Djokovic was caught off guard in his opening victory on Sunday over Dino Prizmic. He made it clear to the umpire in the third set that he was not pleased with the frequent delays.
Djokovic expressed his thoughts about it and said: “I understand the motive behind it is to enhance and improve the experience for fans, right?. We want fans to have a great, thrilling experience being out on the court. 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.”
Grigor Dimitrov also shared some words about this issue and said: “I was not aware. I think a lot of players didn’t know, from what I heard. That was a little bit of a topic in the locker room. I think it’s going to be better if it’s communicated to the players first. Maybe let the players decide on things like that. Because, after all, you’re performing out there—you want to do well, not only for yourself, for the crowd, for the family, for the team.”
Victoria Azarenka, who is on the WTA Player Council, said she didn’t even know before her opening win. She said: “I feel like we keep making some rules that make no sense at times. We’re trying to shorten the changeovers, but then we are waiting for people to sit down.”
"Don't poke the bear" đź‘€
Novak Djokovic responds to a member of the crowd looking to get under his skin 🍿 pic.twitter.com/1S9wQxwemg
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 17, 2024
Djokovic at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2024
LWWWWWWWWL Ranked no.1, the Serbian achieved an overall 4-1 match record in 2024. Novak is competing at the Australian Open where he managed to beat the world no.187 Dino Prizmic 6-2 6-75 6-3 6-4 and the world no.43 Alexei Popyrin 6-3 4-6 7-64 6-3.
Novak Djokovic will face the world no.32 Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the 3rd round. Their current head to head is 2-0 for Djokovic.
Djokovic won 98 titles in his career: 52 on hard courts, 19 on clay courts, 19 on indoor courts and 8 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
He is also scheduled to play at the Wimbledon (Wimbledon) on the 1st of July and U.S. Open (U.S. Open) on the 26th of August.
Dimitrov at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2024
Ranked no.13, the Bulgarian achieved a 6-0 match record in 2024. The Bulgarian is participating at the Australian Open where he conquered the world no.70 Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 7-61 6-2.
Grigor Dimitrov will square off with the world no.80 Thanasi Kokkinakis in the 2nd round on Thursday at 4:00 pm on John Cain Arena. In the past, they have never played each other so far on the main tour.
The Bulgarian conquered 1 title in 2024 in Brisbane.
Dimitrov won 9 titles in his career: 4 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts, 3 on indoor courts and 1 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov faced off 13 times. Their record is 12-1 for Djokovic. Before, the last time they locked horns, Novak Djokovic won 6-4 6-3 in the final in Paris (Rolex Paris Masters) in November 2023.
You can see them in action in the following highlights.
Azarenka at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2024
LWWLWWLWWL Ranked no.22, Azarenka has managed to achieve a compiled 4-1 win-loss record in 2024. The Belarussian is currently having a run at the Australian Open where she ousted the world no.53 Camila Giorgi 6-1 4-6 6-3.
Victoria Azarenka will fight against the world no.96 Clara Tauson in the 2nd round on Thursday at 10:00 pm on Margaret Court Arena. Their actual record is 1-0 for Azarenka.
Victoria won 21 titles in her career: 16 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 4 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
