Tennis: Marin Cilic Verbally Abused By Crowd
January 22nd 2009 07:14
Young Croat Marin Cilic was verbally abused despite his opponent's appeal for his Serb fans to stop the taunts. Cilic had the last word in the "Battle of the Balkans" as he beat Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-3 in a potentially explosive Australian Open second-round match.
Tipsarevic, who asked tournament organisers to schedule the clash on a show court to better control fans, stopped mid-match to urge his chanting supporters in the Court Two stadium to tone down the abuse directed at Cilic.
"They said a couple of bad words, so he said to be quiet and not talk about bad things. But I didn't pay attention too much," Cilic said. "The things they were saying was really not nice. It was tough to play, of course. I knew from the beginning it was going to be like that. There's not much you can do."
Having the match in the 2000-seat stadium allowed the fans to be kept well apart. And Cilic admitted his backers were also chanting insults.
"The provocations were coming from both sides. I wasn't paying attention too much to it. I was trying to be focused on the match, but sometimes it takes your mind a little bit off the things you have to do," he said. Asked what words were being hurled at him, Cilic replied: "You don't want to know."
Local fans sitting near the rival flag-waving Croat and Serb cheer squads were unaware of the abuse and the match was completed without incident.
Cilic, the 19th seed, underlined his top-10 destiny with victory against the dangerous Tipsarevic, four years older and ranked inside the top 50.
Tipsarevic, who asked tournament organisers to schedule the clash on a show court to better control fans, stopped mid-match to urge his chanting supporters in the Court Two stadium to tone down the abuse directed at Cilic.
"They said a couple of bad words, so he said to be quiet and not talk about bad things. But I didn't pay attention too much," Cilic said. "The things they were saying was really not nice. It was tough to play, of course. I knew from the beginning it was going to be like that. There's not much you can do."
Having the match in the 2000-seat stadium allowed the fans to be kept well apart. And Cilic admitted his backers were also chanting insults.
"The provocations were coming from both sides. I wasn't paying attention too much to it. I was trying to be focused on the match, but sometimes it takes your mind a little bit off the things you have to do," he said. Asked what words were being hurled at him, Cilic replied: "You don't want to know."
Local fans sitting near the rival flag-waving Croat and Serb cheer squads were unaware of the abuse and the match was completed without incident.
Cilic, the 19th seed, underlined his top-10 destiny with victory against the dangerous Tipsarevic, four years older and ranked inside the top 50.
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