While some of the biggest players in the world are in Melbourne for this year’s Australian Open, some of the best action occurred off court on Wednesday as two women ended up in a fiery battle in the crowd.
It’s not uncommon to see arguments break out at other sporting events but tennis is, for the most case, fairly civil. So when a scuffle started this week at Melbourne Park, it certainly grabbed the attention of fans and the media.
It all began when Belarussian star Aryna Sabalenka decided to throw her sweaty headband into the crowd after defeating opponent Katie Boulter from Great Britain. While it’s probably considered utterly disgusting to some, it was clearly the ultimate souvenir for two very committed fans who both managed to grab hold of the soggy piece of clothing.
Instead of handing it over the two were captured on video by a nearby journalist gripping tightly onto the headband. At one point one of the women could be seen pulling fiercely at the headband in hopes the other would let go.
The fight continued for a number of minutes with others in the crowd trying to calm the situation. In the end it all became too much for security guards — who had to break up the pair and escort them out of the facility with neither going home with the token headband.
The video was shared online by Jedd Zetzer who was standing on court when the fight broke out.
“This is the greatest thing I’ve seen at the Aus Open!” he wrote on the Twitter post. “Two old ladies fighting over Aryna Sabalenka’s headband, which she threw into the crowd!
“Security came and escorted both women from the stadium. They also took the headband away as neither of the ladies would let go.”
Since it was published the video has gained much attention from social media users with most making fun of the situation.
“Lol! So did it go to a tiebreaker? Who won the headband? Who faulted?!” someone commented.
Another person added: “I’ve never understood why you would want a sweaty headband”.
It hasn’t just been the fans that have found themselves in hot water at this year’s Australian Open. Earlier this week tennis star Bernard Tomic launched an attack on Lleyton Hewitt during a press conference, accusing the 37-year-old of returning to the game for financial gain.
Tomic – who was defeated by Croatian player Marin Cilic on Monday night – used his exiting press conference with the media to slam Hewitt.
“It’s all Lleyton. I’m going to say it honestly – no one likes him anymore,” he told reporters in a video published by 7 News. “He’s just doing the wrong thing. He’s playing Davis Cup. I thought he retired.
“He’s playing all these matches and stuff like this. You know what I mean? I did a little bit of work with him a couple of years ago. He used to hate Tennis Australia. It’s weird. And now he loves them. What’s happened here?”
He accused Hewitt of using Tennis Australia for other things and for a pay cheque and said other players including Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios didn’t want to play anymore because Hewitt has “ruined the system”.
“Go away, like literally, if he’s retired, why are you still in tennis?” he continued. “Why do you still play these doubles tournaments and stuff?
Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios also hit out at Hewitt in a since-deleted Instagram post less than 24 hours after saying there was “not really” a rift between them.