One of the most interesting matches in the second round of the Australian Open Grand Slam in the men's ladder was the clash between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (ATP 23) and Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP 66). The Canadian's best result in this tournament was the quarterfinal in 2022, while the Spaniard never played further than the second round of the Australian Open.
Auger-Aliassime was already winning 2-0 in sets – 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5), but then there was a breakthrough. The Spaniard won three sets in a row – 6:4, 6:1, 6:3 – and advanced to the third round of the Australian Open. However, this match will be talked about not only because of the result, but also because of other events that accompanied it. But it's worth starting from the beginning.
Oddity. The fans caused the Australian Open match to be moved to another court
The Auger-Aliassime – Davidovich Fokina match was to be played at the KIA Arena in Melbourne, a facility with a capacity of 5,000. viewers. Due to rain in Australia, which caused delays, the match was moved to court number 8. However, only seven games were played there and the match was interrupted.
Reason? The tennis players called a supervisor because there was too much noise around the court. Court number 8 is adjacent to court number 6, where the match between Frenchman Arthur Cazaux and British player Jacob Fearnley was taking place.
After several minutes, the referee announced that the match was moved to court number 7. And there the match was finished, and Davidovich Fokina advanced to the third round of the AO. “Indeed, during rallies or preparation for service, very loud shouting, singing, cheering, etc. could be heard. French and British fans have already shown many times that their tennis players feel at home in Melbourne,” wrote Dawid Żbik from Eurosport, explaining the reasons for moving the match to another court.
“Imagine being so loud that you force other players to change the court”, “it was terrible”, “an exciting match” – fans wrote on social media.
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However, this was not the end of the emotions in the entire match, because when the score was 3-2 from Fokina's perspective, the referee punished the Spaniard for delaying the game. Fokina did not agree with this decision and sat on the bench, where he waited for the supervisor. After talking to him, he agreed to return to the game at 3:2, 0:40. Ultimately, the match was finished.
There was also a funny situation during the break before the third set. Auger-Aliassime tried to change his clothes, but had problems taking his clothes off. The official profile of the Australian Open immediately recalled the situation from “Jurassic Park”. “Remember that scene when the baby Velociraptor was trying to hatch and John Hammond, played by Richard Attenborough, was encouraging him to do so? Same energy below,” the post reads.