Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has questioned the Australian Open's need for a 'Party Court' at Melbourne Park after the Russian was subject to inappropriate behaviour.
Pavlyuchenkova crashed out of the Australian Open following a second-round defeat to Paula Badosa on Court 6. The court is situated next to Melbourne Park's two-storey bar, where spectators can move, buy drinks, and listen to quiet music whilst matches are in play.
When reflecting on her experience playing on court six, Pavlyuchenkova explained some of the difficulties for players being next to the bar. Also, when speaking to iNews, the Russian player detailed some of the distracting behaviour from fans that impacted her game against Badosa.
"It was super loud, like in the restaurant basically, people talking and eating and drinking. I don’t know if they even watched the match."
"There were a couple of guys, I think they got drunk and they started to scream and meow [at me], I think maybe because I have this tattoo on my leg [which reads meow] or just because of course they had some drinks and so it was really disturbing."
The Courtside Bar has views over court six, and the Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley referred to it as the 'party court'. Tiley also hoped it would become a feature in more areas of Melbourne Park in the future.
Pavlyuchenkova is one player who will certainly oppose any expansion plans for such features at future Australian Open tournaments. The 32-year-old also said she can't understand where a venue like this has its place in tennis.
"It was not nice to be honest. I was really annoyed at the start of the match. I have no problem playing on the outside courts, but this one was special in terms of the noise and also the court. I was actually thinking during the match ‘What was the idea behind it?’"
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