A tennis star has slammed the Australian Open because the “wokest tournament ever”.
Australian participant Jordan Thompson was left fuming by a brand new rule change throughout his win over Aleksandar Vukic on Monday. The match just lately launched a rule which permits followers within the crowd to enter the sector between video games, as a substitute of solely on the change of ends, giving them extra freedom to return and go as they please.
But world No.43 Thompson was left fuming because it bought in the best way of his rhythm whereas he was making ready to serve at 3-1 up within the second set. With followers persevering with to waltz into Court 3, the 29-year-old requested the umpire to handle the latecomers, solely to study of the rule change.
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And he lambasted the umpire concerning the change made to his house match, describing it as a “woke” transfer. “You’re kidding me. Really?” he mentioned initially.
“Oh my God, this is the wokest tournament ever,” he vented, earlier than including: “It’s just not smart,” on the finish of his service sport.
Thompson dug deep to beat his compatriot 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2 3-6 6-4 and progress to the second spherical, stopping much more outrage on his half. But he was not the one participant to boost points concerning the new rule, with reigning champion Novak Djokovic additionally highlighting its adverse impact on his match.
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The 24-time Grand Slam winner mentioned: “I didn’t learn about that new coverage or new rule. Look, I imply, I perceive the motive behind it’s to boost and enhance the expertise for followers, proper? We do play for followers. We need followers to have a terrific, thrilling expertise of being out on the courtroom.
“It’s exhausting, I have to say. I perceive that and I assist it to some extent, however on the identical time all my profession, all my life I’ve been used to some type of environment. When that adjustments, it type of messes up, distracts you a bit.
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“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.
“I don’t know if it’s really the best rule, but I do understand from a tournament and fan perspective it’s probably better because they don’t want to wait. They want to come out and enjoy every single point. I’m kind of divided between the two in a way.”