Security is apparently pretty tight at the Australian Open – so much so that even if you happen to be Roger Federer, you’re not getting into Melbourne Park without the appropriate laminated pass around your neck.
A video emerged on Twitter overnight showing Federer – the winner of twenty grand slam single titles, including six Australian Opens, and the world number-one ranked male player for five years – being stopped at the entrance.
To his credit, he didn’t pull any “don’t you know who I am?” type nonsense, waiting patiently for members of his entourage to cruise by with their laminated passes before he followed them through the door. Check out the video below:
“I don’t care who you are, mate – you’re not coming in”
Even GOATs need their accreditation, right @rogerfederer? 😂 pic.twitter.com/qk5mecaUVr
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 19, 2019
Roger Federer was not the only high-profile player to be pulled up by Australian Open security without the proper credentials. Another video on Twitter shows a similar thing happening to Maria Sharapova in the corridors of Melbourne Park.
Security not quite familiar with Maria Sharapova it seems #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/29BFPOYRvo
— John Horn (@SportsHorn) January 16, 2019
While the guards were clearly just doing their jobs and checking for credentials to make sure someone sinister didn’t just wander into a restricted area, English tennis writer Simon Briggs later noted that supposedly laid-back Aussies are actually sticklers for rules.
As anyone who has spent any time in Australia knows, this supposedly laidback country is actually a stickler for rules https://t.co/aYZ3DrCVUo
— Simon Briggs (@simonrbriggs) January 19, 2019
He then went off on a bit of a Twitter tear, explaining his other encounters with rule-crazy Aussies, like the time he was told to stop playing frisbee in an empty car park at the SCG.
During one Ashes tour, I compiled a list of “Officious and/or Authoritarian Behaviour”. It ran to more than 40 items, including being told not to play frisbee in an empty SCG carpark while waiting for a presser. The estimable @plalor ran it on The Australian’s back page
— Simon Briggs (@simonrbriggs) January 19, 2019
