Australian Open umpire caves to Thanasi Kokkinakis request to get spectators booted out | Tennis | Sport

Australian Open chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore appeared to get some spectators kicked out of the Margaret Court Arena on Thursday following a talk with Thanasi Kokkinakis. There’s already been a number of incidents this week with fans causing disruptions at the Australian Open.

Just before Andy Murray’s match against Thanasi Kokkinakis, Novak Djokovic had exploded at the umpire in his match over a rowdy spectator in the Rod Laver Arena. A small group of supporters watching Cameron Norrie earlier in the week had also been booted out of their arena for excessive chanting at his opponent from the stands.

And there were more disruptions late into the night on Thursday during Kokkinakis’ match with Murray. Both players appeared frustrated at the noises coming from the stands at different times and Kokkinakis got into it with the umpire at one stage after being given a time violation while waiting for a member of the crowd to stop talking.

The incident happened in the third set and clearly affected Kokkinakis’ rhythm, who had worked his way into a two-set lead and had broken early in the third. But Murray incredibly rallied to force a fourth set after winning a tiebreak.

There was a long break before the start of the fourth as both players went off the court and Kokkinakis went straight up to the umpire on his return, although it wasn’t clear what he said. He did appear frustrated with Asderaki-Moore replying, “I will, I will yeah.”

She was then spotted on the phone with cameras courtside picking up what the official said. “Hello, can you please remove some spectators?,” Asderaki-Moore added.