When fans were allowed to return to live sport after the COVID-19 pandemic, I played in a tournament at the Bercy Arena in Paris.
I remember watching the matches involving French players such as Gael Monfils, Adrian Mannarino and Hugo Gaston. The local fans were absolutely savage. They were a crowd starved of the drama and theatre of live sport during the lockdowns. Visiting players were taunted by a passionate French crowd.
Australian supporters at the Jack Draper and Thanasi Kokkinakis match.Credit: Getty Images
That tale serves to remind us that the rowdy crowds we’ve been seeing at this year’s Australian Open aren’t unique to Australia.
If you’re playing a local at a grand slam or any other tournament, expect the crowd to be against you. When it’s with you, it’s amazing, but when you’re on the receiving end, it can be confronting.
There are some players who really thrive off it. I thought Jack Draper loved being in that hostile environment when he played Thanasi Kokkinakis on Wednesday night, and the same too for Danielle Collins who gave it right back to the Australian crowd when they were showering her with boos during her Thursday night match against Destanee Aiava.
Aiava described the crowd as being more like what you’d see at a rugby league game than a tennis match, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But, there is a line that fans shouldn’t cross.
At a game level, that line comes when a player is trying to serve or preparing to hit the ball. Clapping or cheering in between first and second serves is really distracting, and it’s especially hard when it happens during the ball toss or as your racquet is about to make contact with the ball.
The other line is when comments from the crowd start to get personal.
That’s happened in my career, and it’s happened in a lot of other players’ careers when the crowd takes it too far by saying something about your friends or your family.
That’s not cool – you’ve got to maintain some class.
But tennis is a form of entertainment, and it’s our job as players to keep fans engaged.
There’s one Australian in particular who understands the assignment, and that’s Nick Kyrgios.
He loves getting the crowd going, most of the time to the dismay of his opponents, but he has helped get new fans and the next generation interested in a sport that has an ageing fan base.
Tennis is no longer just competing for eyeballs against other sports such as AFL, NRL and soccer, it’s competing against everything else that people have at their fingertips – think streaming and gaming services.
Danielle Collins taunts the Australian crowd following her win over Destanee Aiava.Credit: AP
Since COVID-19 , we’ve seen crowds and crowd behaviour evolve. It’s not just tennis fans who are coming out to the Australian Open any more, and that’s a good thing.
Just look at the thousands of Lebanese fans who got behind Hady Habib when he became the first Lebanese player in history to qualify for the main draw of a grand slam.
The more people who get to enjoy the agony and the ecstasy of live tennis, the better. And how good that after being starved for connection during the pandemic, that we can come out and enjoy cheering on our countrymen and women together.
John Millman is a commentator on Nine’s Australian Open coverage, watch it live on Channel 9 and 9Now
