Skirmishes broke out at the Australian Open tennis today following Amer Delic's defeat to defending champion Novak Djokovic in the third round.
Amer Delic, a Bosnia-born naturalised American, had issued a plea before the match for fans to behave themselves and treat Djokovic and his Serbian supporters with respect after fans taunted each other during a previous match between Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
While fans inside Rod Laver Arena were well behaved, rival supporters watching the match on the big screen in the garden area of Melbourne Park threw plastic bottles and chairs at each other following Djokovic’s four-set victory.
One woman was hit by a chair, though was not badly hurt, and 30 people were ejected from Melbourne Park.
Two were charged with riotous behaviour and discharging a missile, while one received an on-the-spot fine.
“I’m really sad to hear about (the trouble),” Delic said after the match. “As I said a couple of days ago, there’s absolutely no place for that here. This is a tennis match.
“As I’m sure you all saw at the end, Novak and I are friends. We’re both competitors, obviously. In the end it was a fair match and there was no reason for such things to happen.”
Inspector Chris Duthie of Victoria Police said the police had dealt with the incident “quickly and effectively”.
As people were being ejected from Melbourne Park, further trouble occurred forcing the police to step in again.
Two rival supporters were kicked out for scuffling in a bar following Tipsarevic’s loss to Cilic.
Two years ago the Australian Open was marred by violent clashes between more than 100 Croatian and Serbian fans.
PA
