Jack Draper‘s Vienna Open final against Karen Khachanov was briefly disrupted by a rowdy fan shouting abuse from the stands. The unsavoury incident occurred near the end of the first set, with the chair umpire being forced to step in and calm things down.
Khachanov was preparing to serve when the fan shouted something which was unclear, but it immediately caught his attention. The 28-year-old was visibly riled up and marched over to the crowd as the rest of the fans in attendance broke into a chorus of boos.
The chair umpire pleaded with Khachanov to keep his composure and insisted the match would not resume until the culprit had been identified and thrown out of the arena.
He said: “Karen, Karen, Karen! Sit down. We are going to take him out. Please sit down here. We don’t play while this guy is here, just sit down. We are going to take him out. Then you continue to play.”
Khachanov continued to remonstrate with the unruly fan, throwing his arms around in frustration before eventually turning his back and walking away. Draper, meanwhile, stayed on the other side of the court as he patiently waited for play to resume.
Proceedings got back underway a few moments later and it did not take long for Draper to wrap up the first set, putting himself on the verge of winning his first ATP 500 title.
It came just days after Khachanov was involved in a similar incident during his win over Alex de Minaur in the semi-finals. Both players walked off the court until the rowdy fan was ejected from the venue with security officials taking swift action.
In the very first game of the match, the fan was shouting and leaning on Khachanov’s coach in the front row, distracting both players. On their own accord, they decided to walk off and wait until the spectator had been escorted out of the arena.
Naomi Broady was on commentary duties for Sky Sports and insisted that security officials had been left with no choice but to remove the fan.
“They’re sat right alongside Khachanov’s team,” she said. “Go on, do the right thing. He’s basically lying on Khachanov’s coach. They’re going to have to wait for security to come and escort him out if he’s not going to leave.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk