Comments: Daniil Medvedev villain is right about Australian Open tennis fans having ’empty brains’

There is no doubt that Daniil Medvedev has some undesirable qualities when he is playing on the tennis court.

There was the way he flouted the referee’s chair in the semi-final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, the punishment of the soccer kids for not following the procedure he wanted and the mocking applause of the crowd when they cheered. dance for Rafael Nadal’s score ahead of him.

The Russian world No 2 was fined $12,000 for breaking his rules during the tournament, and while his conduct comes at a time when the sport has changed a life, you will still I don’t see people like Nadal, Roger Federer or Ash Barty acting the same under similar circumstances.

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However, there was one thing that Medvedev noticed during one of the races for the John Blom seat in the Australian Open final loss to Nadal.

After a handful of fans repeatedly shouted during Medvedev’s first and second serves, he was confronted by the umpire during the change-over.

“They are idiots. No brains, empty brains. Their lives must have been terrible,” Medvedev said.

And he was in the right place.

There is always a fool in the crowd of thousands at sporting events, but crowd problems have been far too common at this year’s Australian Open.

The warning signs were there early in the tournament. This author wrote an article about how sports crowd atmosphere should be praised, following criticism from supporters during Nick Kyrgios’ first-round win over Liam Broady.

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But there is a difference between creating atmosphere at a tennis match, or blatantly disrupting the game by shouting while the players are serving or preparing.

Medvedev earned his villain card with his swagger, but it still has to be tough for him to get the ridicule he received during his Australian Open, as evidenced by his admission after the final.

“I’m just talking about [a] few moments when a boy (Medvedev himself) stopped dreaming, and today is one of them. I won’t really say why,” the 25-year-old said.

“I’m just giving a small example.

“Before Rafa serves right in the fifth set, someone’s going to be, and I’ll even be surprised, like a guy shouting, ‘Come on, Daniil.’ A thousand people will say, ‘Tsss, tsss, tsss.’ That sound.

“Before serving, I didn’t hear it. It was disappointing. It was disrespectful, it was disappointing. I’m not sure in 30 years I want to play tennis or not.

“The dream kid is no longer in me after today. It’s going to be more difficult to continue tennis when it’s like this.”

But it’s not just Medvedev who has had problems with the Australian Open crowd. Women’s tennis finalist Danielle Collins expressed her dismay throughout the second set as rude supporters made noise at key moments.

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There was an incident during the men’s doubles final against Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, where a fan had to be kicked off the field for shouting mid-serve.

One fan entered the field and had to leave the field during the Nadal-Medvedev final, and another fan was kicked off the field for repeatedly making noise during Nadal’s second round match.

There are always one or two incidents involving crowds at sporting events of this magnitude, but there are only a handful at this year’s Australian Open.

If this trend continues, Australian sports fans will be branded as ’empty brain’ supporters, as Medvedev put it.