Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova says drunk fans took Party Court meowing too far

James Richardson 17 Jan 2024 1:07 PM

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia plays a backhand return.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has conceded that her visible tattoo of the word meow inspired her heckling at the hands of allegedly intoxicated Australian Open fans but feels that their behaviour crossed the line.

Pavlyuchenkova slammed ‘drunk’ Australian Open fans for ‘screaming and meowing’ during her match on the so-called Party Court on 6.

At a rowdy Melbourne Park, the Russian world No 46 was eliminated in the second round after losing to former world No 2 Paula Badosa in straight sets.

Pavlyuchenkova was outraged by inebriated spectators on Court 6, where Tennis Australia has constructed a two-story bar that plays music during games and allows fans to walk freely just metres away from the players in action.

In October, Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley claimed that Court 6 will ‘soon become known’ as the ‘Party Court’.

Pavlyuchenkova wasn’t in the mood for a party after her loss and slammed the initiaitive.

“It was super loud, like in the restaurant basically, people talking and eating and drinking,” Pavlyuchenkova told iNews.

“I don’t know if they even watched the match.

“There were a couple of guys, I think they got drunk and they started to scream and meow [at me], I think maybe because I have this tattoo on my leg [which reads meow] or just because of course they had some drinks and so it was really disturbing.

“It was not nice to be honest. I was really annoyed at the start of the match. I have no problem playing on the outside courts, but this one was special in terms of the noise and also the court.”

She doesn’t feel that the initiative is respectful of the traditions of tennis which include pretty strict standards for fan conduct which are vital for the sport to be playable in front of spectators.

The Russian doesn’t feel that the decision was motivated by anything other than commercial concerns and implied that the powers that be hadn’t really thought the Party Court scheme through properly before executing it.

“I was actually thinking during the match, ‘What was the idea behind it?’ – yeah okay, maybe of course, for the fans, it’s super fun for them,” she said.

“But tennis is a special sport in a way. It’s not like baseball, or other sports where you can eat and walk around, or like basketball.

“It is completely different. It’s very quiet in a way. So yeah, that was really uncomfortable.”