A masked pro-Palestinian supporter dumped leaflets onto an Australian Open court Monday and briefly stopped the fourth-round contest between Germany’s Olympic champion Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie of Britain.
The interruption came from behind the baseline during the sixth game of the third set on Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, news.com.au reports.
A protester throws paper onto Margaret Court Arena during the round four singles match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Cameron Norrie of UK during the 2024 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Printed in black on the white pages was the message “Free Palestine” and “While you’re watching tennis bombs are dropping on Gaza.”
Ball kids gathered up the papers and the match continued after a short delay.
Security escorted the protester away but not before members of the crowd interceded to stop the disruption and forcibly lead the protester away.
Tennis Australia said two spectators notified security and stopped the protester “and we appreciate their actions.”
“Venue security was deployed to detain the individual (and) the individual was subsequently evicted from the event,” organizers said in a statement. “Anyone seeking to disrupt the event — as we saw tonight — will be removed.”
The Australian Open has taken a hard stance against political demonstrations at the event, with flags not relating to the countries players are representing being banned.
After the kerfuffle was over, Zverev overcame the fierce challenge from Norrie to make the Australian Open quarter-finals.