Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has hit out at the behaviour of some members of the crowd during his five-set win at the Australian Open.
The 14th seed almost came to blows with some fans during his marathon 6-3, 7-6(3), 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 win over Reilly Opelka on the Kia Arena. Early in the fourth set, Fokina walked up to a section of the crowd and was seen pointing to certain members. Prompting the Umpire to come out of his chair and deal with the situation.
Speaking afterwards, Fokina criticised those who cheered for Opelka after he suffered a minor ankle twist and lost a point. The injury scare didn’t have any impact on his performance for the rest of the match.
“I twisted my ankle and he won the point. And I think it’s not fair for me they cheered that point because maybe I could get twisted worst,” Davidovich Fokina said afterwards.
“But, no, it was a low twist. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have any pain. But at the end it was not fair that they were cheering at that point because it was a free point for him.”
It is only the second time Fokina has reached the last 32 at Melbourne Park after 2025. However, his best Grand Slam performance was in 2021 when he reached the quarter-finals of the French Open.
“It can happen here, it can happen wherever in the world,” he commented on the crowd behaviour.
“So there were four ignorant drunks that I can do nothing about. Nothing more.”
Fokina has another stern test in the next round against 19th seed Tommy Paul, who has won his last two matches in straight sets. He has a poor record against the American, losing all four of their previous Tour-level meetings, with three of those taking place at a Grand Slam.
