Australian Open protest halts Norrie match as crowd members drag away disruptor

22 January 2024 , 07:43

970     0

The protester threw paper onto Margaret Court Arena (Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Cameron Norrie’s fourth-round match against Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open was briefly interrupted by a protestor.

Britain’s last remaining hope in the men’s singles was at a crucial juncture in his match in the third set when he had to stop playing. Norrie was 4-1 down in the third set and about to serve on game point when disruption at one end of the Margaret Court Arena became clear.

A female protestor wearing a black face mask, sunglasses and a blue cap was seen throwing leaflets over the barrier onto the court. She managed to dump many of her pieces of paper onto the back of the court while shouting "Free Palestine!" before she was escorted out, not by security, but by two other spectators.

A man and a woman were seen pushing her up the steps towards the exits. The ball boys and girls quickly picked up the pieces of paper and play was only paused for a brief period of time.

Norrie appeared irritated by the interruption, but did go on to hold his serve, although he eventually succumbed to lose the third set and go 2-1 down.

Novak Djokovic won Australian Open despite playing with major hamstring tear

The leaflets had the words "Free Palestine" written on them and Pro-Palestine chants had been heard inside the Margaret Court Arena beforehand.

Zverev, the sixth seed, took the opening set 7-5 before Norrie fought back to win the second 6-3. But his comeback was halted as the German won 6-3 in the third to take a 2-1 lead in sets.

The protester was escorted out by members of the public (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The pieces of paper were quickly cleared up by ball boys and girls (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Norrie beat Juan Pablo Varillas, Giulio Zeppieri and Casper Ruud to reach the fourth round against Zverev. The left-hander, seeded 19th, has been in impressive form in Melbourne and Zvervev was expecting a difficult match from his opponent.

"When you think of Cameron Norrie, you normally think of somebody who grinds a lot, a big fighter," he said. "But in the off-season he really worked on his game and he really worked on the aggressive style of play. He really worked on coming forward. It was very noticeable in December, and you can see it on the court now. The work is paying off for him."

Before the match Norrie said: "Even just being in the second week for the first time in Australia, never done that. It means a lot to do that and start the year playing some good tennis. I think it just helped having a good break and a really good off-season to put a lot of time on the court and get better as a player.

"I think it just comes down to how can you play the biggest points the best and feeling calm and feeling good about yourself. I have done that, and I was feeling that coming into the season."

Felix Keith