A woman was removed from the Australian Open last night because she wouldn’t stop heckling #2 men’s singles player Rafael Nadal.
In his match against Michael Mmoh, ranked #177, at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, Nadal was serving for the second set at 5-4 when the heckler called Nadal an “OCD fuck”.
By shouting abuse, she disrupted play for minutes, Nine’s Wide World of Sports reported. “Thank you, madam, you are delaying everyone,” the umpire complained over the mic.
The current French Open champion Rafael Nadal was at first frustrated by the stop in play, but ultimately found the whole situation pretty amusing.
He literally grinned when the woman gave him the finger. “What? Me?” he seemed to say, pointing to himself.
A fan has been BOOTED from the match for unsavoury language and flipping the bird to Rafael Nadal! 💥😂
Incredible scenes.
WATCH: @Channel9
STREAM: https://t.co/7uAf53PWTv #9WWOS #AusOpen #AO2021 pic.twitter.com/jgjv7b1GX2— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) February 11, 2021
“We love you, Rafa!,” came the calls from his fans when she had stopped. Seemingly proving he was unfazed by the incident, Nadal served a perfect ace.
But the heckler was not finished with her tirade. She then called him a “wanker” as he tried to serve, waving her arms around, before security finally tried to remove her. She seemed to try to apologise to Nadal, but was instead escorted out of the stands. He gave her a thumbs up on her way out though, like a gentleman.
Nine’s World Of Sports reports that after the match Rafael Nadal was asked if he knew the woman. “No,” he laughed. “And honestly I don’t want to know.”
“Maybe she [drank] too much gin or tequila,” said Nadal, as The Guardian reports.
“For me [it] was funny. I was surprised, yes, but at the same time was thinking ‘Poor girl.’”
Despite the disruption, Rafael Nadal beat Mmoh in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. He’s next due to face Cameron Norrie, who is ranked #69 (hurr hurr).
You just wouldn’t see this kind of thing at Wimbledon.
