Australian Open Crowd Boos in Unison After Protestor Interrupts Aryna Sabalenka in the Final

The politics of the world finds itself in every nook and cranny of the world, even the ongoing Australian Open. During the final match between Aryna Sabalenka and Qinwen Zheng, protestors disrupted the proceeding as they started screaming during Zheng’s serve. The match was disrupted for a bit before play resumed.

The commotion was stirred by pro-Palestine protestors and it was not the first instance we have seen in the Aussie slam. We have seen such protests in various sports, along with an earlier round match in the first slam of the year, and now again in the finals.

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Qinwen Zheng interrupted by protestors

The final of the Australian Open became the stage for the issue as the match between Zheng and Sabalenka was interrupted by protestors. A post on X captured a brief 10 seconds of the incident when slogans were heard as Zheng prepared to serve. The sudden eruption of noise momentarily distracted the player.

As Zheng served in the second set, one member of the audience shouted, “Free Palestine.” His scream was followed by a chant of “Ceasefire now” and another member of the audience joined in.

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Ben Rothenberg also covered the moment as he wrote, “Free Palestine protesters disrupt the match on Zheng’s game point.”

Jose Morgado also talked about the moment as he shared, “Here comes a protest…“.

This was not the first time we saw pro-Palestine protestors in sports, and it will likely not be the last till the conflict ends. We saw a similar moment in a fourth-round match between Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie.

Protestor disrupts fourth round bout

As Zverev looked to beat Norrie, their match was disrupted by a protestor in the stands behind the baseline. The brief interruption saw an older lady pulling pieces of paper from her bag and then throwing them in the air. The cards were indiscernible at first, but upon closer inspection, they said, “Free Palestine“.

Along with the women’s final of the Australian Open, a pro-Palestine protestor invaded the pitch at the 2023 ICC World Cup Final between India and Australia. Such moments are likely to become more prominent as we see the conflict continue.

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