Alexander Zverev has slammed security at the Australian Open when two fans dragged a pro-Palestine protester out of the Margaret Court Arena. The masked woman interrupted his fourth round tie against British No.1 by throwing leaflets onto the court during the third set.
With no police or security taking action, two spectators intervened – and later returned into the arena to massive applause from the crowd.
Olympic champion Zverev said: “That was a little bit surprising because the security here, I mean, on-site where the players’ area is, is extremely strict. Even today, I played obviously five sets, four hours, some minutes. I went to the locker room, and the gym area is right next to the locker room. They wouldn’t let me into the gym because I forgot my credential in the locker room.
“What are you doing? You’re protecting players from players. That’s not really the whole point. Something like this happens and it takes three, four minutes for somebody to show up.
“I think that should be the opposite. It should be where it’s already the quarterfinals and you know the players. Especially there’s obviously screens and TVs everywhere in front of all the security guys, if you’ve seen somebody play for four and a half hours, it’s okay to go stretching in the gym, even if you forgot your credential.
“That’s not sounding arrogant. I understand they’re all doing their job. But I think when something like this happens, it shouldn’t be another fan dragging the other person out. It should be the security guys that should be there quite quickly. It shouldn’t take them three, four minutes, that long.”
When Norrie was serving at 1-4 down in the third set, the protester at the far end of the stadium behind Zverev started throwing leaflets onto the court from the front row. A female member of the audience – and then a male spectator – grabbed her and dragged her up the stairs and out of the arena.
It was reminiscent of the Just Stop Oil protests on Court 18 at Wimbledon last summer.
Coco Gauff’s US Open semi-final against Karolina Muchova in September was interrupted for 49 minutes when a climate protestor glued his feet to the floor in the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
No.6 seed Zverev, who won 7-5 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6 in just over four hours, added: I don’t know what it was about. I heard same thing happened in JCA or Kia Arena or something like that. We were not the only court.”
Told it was a pro-Palestine protest, the German added: “There’s obviously a lot going on in the world and a lot of quite bad things happen. I understand some people are frustrated. Of course, a tennis match has nothing particularly to do with it. I also understand both sides there.”
A Police Victoria statement said: “Officers were told a small group of people were throwing pamphlets onto Kia and Margaret courts about 6.30pm.
“It is understood the pamphlets were also scattered on the ground at the entrance of Garden Square. Police detained a 35-year-old woman and a 36-year-old woman to obtain their details. The duo were given a direction to leave the event. No offences were detected during the incident.”
Norrie added: “Obviously we’re both aware. We had to stop the match for a few moments. I didn’t feel threatened or anything. It is what it is. Those things happen nowadays. I think there were a couple of fans that actually helped out. But yeah, I don’t think anyone felt threatened or anything.”
