Tennis has always struggled with the absence of crowd-pleasing violent outbursts as in hockey. The U.S. Open was able to overcome that liability this week with a full fist fight that erupted in the stands as Novak Djokovic and Philipp Petzschner watched on as spectators.
Here is the video which shows various fans demanding that the young man be thrown out of the stadium:
The fight reportedly started because the young man was swearing loudly and acting obnoxious in the stands before being confronted by a woman and her father. At one point the woman lightly slaps the man and other fans scream “throw the bum out.” If you watch this video, the man appears to continue to trash talk and eventually prompts the father (who appeared earlier to want to avoid the confrontation) to take after him. They went tumbling over two rows of seats.
If this fight started over the young man’s swearing I have no sympathy for him. There is a segment of our society who were simply raised poorly and cannot watch a sporting event without being crude and obnoxious. I know people who no longer take their kids to Philly baseball games because the crowd is often too vulgar and inappropriate for kids. Stadiums have the ability to toss out and even ban spectators who lack manners or restraint. They are better off at home watching and swearing with their friends.
What is clear is that nothing this obnoxious has been seen at the U.S. Open since John McEnroe played singles.
For fun, you can count the torts from defamation to assault to battery to battery again to battery again . . . well you get the idea. What they need is a legal commentator calling love”, “fifteen”, “thirty”, and “forty” etc. I am available.
Source: Daily Mail