When in Australia, beware of airing your coffee preferences or you might get booed in public. Five-time Major winner Iga Swiatek witnessed it first hand on Thursday as she revealed her favorite city for coffee shops down under, in a fun conversation with commentator Jelena Dokic after claiming the second-round match against Rebecca Sramkova. But what’s her fault? Well, she didn’t mention Melbourne, but Sydney. That was enough to make fans present at the Rod Laver Arena irked. However, the situation has now aggravated after Dokic’s brutal reaction to this amid an increasing backlash for Swiatek’s preferred coffee city. It appears she isn’t happy with how her interaction with Swiatek was taken out of context. But by whom?

Jelena Dokic took to her Instagram on Thursday and shared a lengthy post. She highlighted “negative and false reporting” by several media outlets. In the post, there was a screenshot as well, indicating two headlines by Australian news websites on Iga Swiatek and Dokic’s interaction. Dokic couldn’t believe that her simple conversation on coffee with Swiatek was sensationalized. “Media and journalism, some of you should be ashamed of yourselves,” the ex-pro further added. “Has the media not learnt to be kind and report things the way they actually happened? Can’t the media just be positive and be nice to people, athletes and tennis players in this example.”

For the unversed, Dokic asked Iga Swiatek about her coffee taste while staying in Australia. She wanted to know how does the coffee in Melbourne compare to the rest of the world. But she also warned Swiatek of her response. The player, however, expressed an honest reaction saying, “Oh well I gotta say in Sydney I found some better coffee shops,” leaving Melbourne lovers frustrated. But she immediately crawled back to her preference. “No no no, guys the thing is that it’s not easy for me to fall asleep so during a grand slam I’m kind of you know, my coffee level needs to be a bit lower,” she said. “I’m only drinking it before the match so I didn’t do the right research. So sorry for my answer.” Making up for her initial answer, Swiatek stated, “Overall in Australia, it’s hard to get wrong coffee.”

Later, Alex de Minaur was also put into a similar situation on Thursday. After Swiatek, he was the one to play at the Rod Laver Arena in the second round against American Tristen Boyer. The local favorite won this fixture. During a post-match interview with compatriot John Millman, he was aware of the incident involving Swiatek. So he chose to be neutral. “Look I better keep this amazing crowd on my side,” he said. Without naming any particular city, he simply revealed, “There’s no better place for coffee than Australia.”

Without holding back on this situation, Dokic further added, “You have turned a funny moment with a 5 time Grand Slam champion and world number 2 Iga Swiatek into a sensational and false headline and she couldn’t be a nicer person. You are calling funny moments ‘awkward’ and you have made the world number two sound ‘awful’ and like she should be hated because she made a joke about Melbourne coffee. Shame on you,” She then urged outlets reporting falsely that it’s “Time to stop. Chill, try writing something nice for a change”

Coming back to the coffee shops in Australia, there was another player, who had something interesting to say about it. Well, it was none other than World No.4 Jasmine Paolini.

What did Jasmine Paolini say about the Australian coffee?

On Thursday, the Italian won her second round against Mexico’s Renata Zarazua at the Rod Laver Arena. The 2024 Billie Jean King Cup winner Italy’s team member didn’t face much difficulty in tackling Zarazua. She cruised into the third round with a scoreline of 6-2, 6-3.

After the match, Paolini was interviewed by ex-pro and commentator Laura Robson. Following Swiatek and Alex de Minaur’s takes on the coffee experience down under, Robson wanted to know Paolini’s thoughts. She wanted her reaction on whether Australia had the best coffee in the world.

Being from a country like Italy, where making coffee is like an art, Paolini didn’t hold back. She said, “Hmm…not really! We drink espresso. For us, it’s tough to drink coffee here.” For the unversed, she and her coach Renzo Furlan are big espresso lovers. In fact, Furlan has even got his own espresso machine. “With Italian capsules of coffee,” Paolini pointed out while speaking to Robson. “He’s drinking a lot of coffee. Me too, but him much more.”

Robson had to agree but she wondered if Paolini could at least consider keeping Australian coffee in the second position. The WTA pro smiled and then said, “OK. Because we are in Australia!”

Melbourne, which is the host city to Australian Open, generally takes great pride in claiming that it serves world’s best coffee. However, finding a place to take a sip of hot brew has been a challenge for visitors lately, as reported by Reuters on January 15. The event attracts many people on a daily basis, close to 100,000. Long queues have been spotted across Melbourne, in last few days, in front of the coffee stores. Simply because they are still not in sufficient numbers. It seems like the organizers will need to open more outlets going forward to serve a joyful experience.