Race row erupts in Australian Open
By IANSTuesday, January 20, 2009
MELBOUNE - The Australian Open is amidst a race row after ‘unruly’ Bosnian fans heckled and abused American first-round loser Taylor Dent.
Dent’s father Phil, a former finalist at the Open, Monday launched a scathing attack on the Bosnian supporter base for their conduct during his son’s fiery match with Bosnian-born Amer Delic on an outside court.
Dent Jr made five complaints to the chair umpire before going down in five gruelling sets to Delic, who is now a US citizen.
‘They were allowed to heckle, to taunt and to do lots of things. I’ve played a lot of Davis Cup and Grand Slam tennis and I can tell you, their behaviour wouldn’t be allowed anywhere in the world. It was out of control,’ Phil was quoted as saying in Sydney Morning Herald.
‘They were interrupting serves, they were chanting during line calls and even in the middle of a point. If Taylor had the same kind of support there would have been a riot.’
Tennis Australia have played down the incident with tournament referee Wayne McKewen saying the crowd did not contravene any regulations.
