2010 U.S Open: Barbaric spectators engage in shocking Brawl
As quoted by the New York Post, “You sure as $%&@ don’t see this at Wimbledon.” Just as the second round of the 2010 U.S. Open Men’s singles category was nearing a close, Serbia’s top seed Novak Djokovic was made to face Germany’s Philipp Petzschner in his match of the draw.
The spectators seemed to have been disappointed by what the Serb and German sportsman had to offer. The match was nothing out of the ordinary. Additionally, it was just like any other qualifying round match.
However, it wasn’t long before a trio of spectators in the upper deck of the Arthur Ashe stadium got into an intense argument. According to a report by the New York Post, a middle aged female fan complained to a young man who seemed to have been in his early twenties, about the colorful language that he kept using during the first set of the match.
Complaints from the bystanders present in the same row caused the man and woman to get back to their seats. It however, wasn’t long before they stood back up and resumed their dispute. According to witnesses, the man was heard saying, “You’ve got a problem? Go ahead and hit me.” Momentarily after which the woman’s elderly father stood up and went for the young man, pouncing on his neck in an attempt to strangle him.
Furthermore, the young man defended himself by retaliating to the elderly citizen’s actions. Right after which, the two men took a tumble down the stairs and landed three rows below their seats. That however, most certainly wasn’t all.
As the people from the stands helped the old man up, his daughter got hold of the guy and slapped him across the face. In return, she was pushed back until a number of spectators involved themselves into the nasty fight. A while later, the security team showed up at the scene and took matters into their own hands.
Incidentally, a fan-made video of the battle was uploaded to Youtube shortly after the match came to an end. Apparently, the footage is spreading like wild-fire all over the internet – And why wouldn’t it?
Alongside the unexpected crisis, Novak Djokovic defeated the unseeded German 7-6, 6-3 and 7-6 to make it through to the following round. As for the trio of ‘barbarians,’ even though, a U.S. Tennis Association spokesman later said: “It’s a hot night in New York. Things happen,” all three of them have been banned from attending U.S. Open matches until the 30th of September 2012.
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