Australian Open branded 'wokest tournament' ever as controversial rule change angers player

Players at the Australian Open are divided over a new rule introduced for the tournament.

Fans usually have to wait until the change of ends before making their way in and out of stadiums at tennis tournaments.

During hard-fought, long games, this takes up to 10 minutes or more.

Things have changed at Melbourne Park this year. Fans are now allowed to make their way to their seats during the small window of time between games.

It was introduced as a way to try and improve the spectator experience. There have naturally been a few teething issues and several players on the court have voiced their concerns.

Australian Jordan Thompson was unaware of the new regulation during his first-round win over Alexsandar Vukic.

After hearing the commotion around him, he shouted: "Are you kidding me? This is the wokest tournament ever!"

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Novak Djokovic, the current men's number one in the world, shouted 'shut the f*** up' at supporters who were causing a disturbance in the middle of his match against Dino Prizmic.

He explained following his victory that he also had no idea about what was going on.

The Serbian admitted: “I did not know about that new policy or new rule.

"Look, I mean, I understand the motive behind it is to enhance and improve the experience for fans, right? We do play for fans. We want fans to have a great, thrilling experience of being out on the court.

"It's hard, I must say. I understand that and I support it to some extent, but at the same time all my career, all my life I've been used to some kind of atmosphere. When that changes, it kind of messes up, distracts you a bit."

Djokovic later added that the game 'dragged' and questioned how suitable the rule is.

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The 36-year-old continued: "Today we lost quite a bit of time when they were letting people in to come to their seats, even though it was not a changeover. My opponent would wait for them to sit down. It dragged a lot.

"I don't know if it's really the best rule, but I do understand from a tournament and fan perspective it's probably better because they don't want to wait. They want to come out and enjoy every single point. I'm kind of divided between the two in a way."