Alexander Zverev's matches at the 2024 Australian Open have featured some protests, and both were of the same nature.
His match against Cameron Norrie was stopped, and his post-match interview after beating Carlos Alcaraz was also interrupted. The German has had a solid Australian Open so far, and he's in the semi-final.
Getting there required some complicated wins, but for the most part, Zverev handled it about as well as you can hope. One of those matches, however, was interrupted by a protestor, causing a delay to the match.
The person who protested was removed from the arena, but it left the German visibly disappointed about security at the event. That wouldn't be the last time a protestor showed up during Zverev's match, as his post-match interview after his victory over Alcaraz was also disrupted.
Zverev bested Alcaraz in four sets without any problems or incidents. His post-match interview with Jim Courier was interrupted by a protestor who shouted 'Free Palestine' before being booed by the rest of the crowd.
Zverev took a moment but continued with the interview as no shouts came afterward. His matches have been targeted by protests, which is interesting, but not only his.
Despite the protests taking place, it was good to see that nobody entered the court because that will always be a scary moment after the Monika Seles incident from decades ago.
You can't really stop people from shouting, but it's far less dangerous for the players than protesters actually entering the court. That's always going to be a sight nobody wants to see, regardless of how noble the intent is. However, the German didn't seem to be bothered by the protest, focusing on the positives of his run.
"Look, I'm just super happy to be in the semifinals and super excited. And being able to play these kind of matches again and being able to compete against these kind of players."
0 Comments