The tournament director of the Miami Open has insisted that players receive adequate protection following claims that the family of Caroline Wozniacki received death threats during a match.
On Saturday the Australian Open champion posted a statement on her Twitter account in which she slammed the behaviour of the crowd. During her second round clash with world No.82 Monica Puig, which Wozniacki lost in three sets, the Dane said that she and her family was verbally abused by members of the crowd. Criticising the security officials of failing to act.
“During the match people in the crowd threatened my family, wished death upon my mom and dad, called me names that I can’t repeat here and told my fiance’s niece and nephew (who are 10 years old) to sit down,” Wozniacki wrote on her Twitter account.
The allegations made by the former world No.1 have triggered a fierce defence by the tournament director. James Blake, who was officially appointed to the position earlier this year, insisted that the safety of players is his ‘number one priority.’ Disputing Wozniacki’s claims that the security failed to address the abuse she received during the match.
“We had tournament and WTA staff as well as tournament security courtside,” Blake said. “They never witnessed nor were they notified of any specific threats made to the players or their families. If we had been notified, the situation would have been handled immediately.”
Official statement regarding last night’s Wozniacki-Puig match: pic.twitter.com/JHEjO1RZ7r
— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) 24 March 2018
Regardless of the swift response by officials, Wozniacki has called for lessons to be learnt from her situation. It is not the first time the Miami crowd has gotten under the skin of a player. Last year Nick Kyrgios experienced numerous bursts of booing throughout his semi-final clash with Roger Federer. Something 18-time grand slam champion Chris Evert described as ‘a lot of boos for no reason.’
“I hope the Miami Open chooses to take this seriously because it’s a horrible example to set for the next generation of tennis players and fans.” Wozniacki concluded in her statement.
The Miami Open is categorised as a Premier Mandatory tournament for the women and a Masters 1000 for the men.
