Australian Open organisers raised security to "unprecedented" levels today as police combed video evidence and top players expressed concern over the tournament's latest brawl.
Australian Open organisers raised security to "unprecedented" levels today as police combed video evidence and top players expressed concern over the tournament's latest brawl.
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As some 45,000 fans packed Melbourne Park, record numbers of security personnel and police were on duty to prevent a repeat of yesterday's ugly scenes.
Dozens of Serbian and Bosnian fans clashed after Novak Djokovic's win over Amer Delic, hurling plastic chairs and aiming punches and kicks at each other and leaving one woman injured.
Organisers were reluctant to discuss "operational measures" but said they were confident of dealing with any further trouble.
"We've increased security to unprecedented levels to help us prevent that," tournament director Craig Tiley told AFP.
"We're sending a message that if you're going to be disruptive, you're not welcome. And if you're disruptive when you're on site you'll be evicted and we won't allow you back."
Croatia's Mario Ancic became the latest player to speak out on the violence, which mirrors running battles in 2007 between Croatian and Serbian fans.
Last year, police used pepper spray to subdue rowdy elements of the crowd watching a match between Konstantinos Economidis of Greece and Chile's Fernando Gonzales.
"If sports people are going to be role models we have to stand up and say what's going on here is not right," Ancic said.
"These things should not happen. I don't know why they started, they started in the last two or three years, it was never before.
"This is a friendly Grand Slam with every nation supporting each other but what's happening is overstepping the line. We all have to stand up and say we're against fighting. It's never good to mix politics and sport."
With three-time champion Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic also strongly condemning the violence, Serbia's Djokovic came under fire for his lukewarm response.
"The defending champion failed the community by refusing to be drawn on the issue," wrote Weekend Australian columnist Patrick Smith.
"It was a meek, selfish and irresponsible stand. He was, in the most important battle, a loser."
Djokovic had refused to comment on the clashes after his match but called for his fans to show sportsmanship.
"I am happy when I see that I have my own group of fans that are supporting me in a fair way, of course, not provoking my opponent and everything is going in a sportsmanship way," he said.
"I didn't know about this encounter whatever they had outside of the courts."
However, his Bosnian-American opponent, who had issued an Internet appeal for calm before the match, expressed dismay when told of the fighting.
"I'm really sad to hear about it. As I said a couple days ago, there's absolutely no place for that here. This is a tennis match," Delic said.
Meanwhile police were reviewing security footage of the incident to track down the culprits, local reports said.
Three men were facing charges and another received an on-the-spot fine, Australian Associated Press said. About 30 people were kicked out when the trouble flared.
"Both groups are to blame and it happens with a group of hotheads," said Serbian community leader Milan Milutinovic.
Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city, is a cultural melting pot home to thousands of Serbs, Bosnians and Croatians who are sometimes at odds over the 1990s Balkans war.
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