Australian Open 2025 results: Harriet Dart demands more respect from crowd as she and Jody Burrage bow out in second round
Britain’s Harriet Dart said the atmosphere during her defeat in the second round of the Australian Open was “like a football match” and demanded more “respect” from fans.
Darts, the lucky loser, who found out an hour before her opening match on Monday that she had secured a place in this year’s main draw, won the first set against 18th seed Donna Vekic of Croatia, but lost 4-6, 6 Lost -0, 6-2.
The dart issue with the Court 14 crowd came on a day when rowdy supporter behavior made headlines amid other incidents at Melbourne Park.
“I felt like I was at a football match,” said Dart, 28. “Obviously it’s great that there were so many people there watching everything, but I also think there has to be respect for both players “
“I think some people were going to be freaked out. I can only really compare it to the Billie Jean King Cup and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before.
“I think (the umpire) did the best he could – maybe there should be a stricter policy in terms of if people are doing something, if they do it more than once they’re out. Yes, but I don’t make these rules.”
Elsewhere, the chair umpire had to make several appeals for respect for the players during Jack Draper’s match against Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis at John Cain Arena.
The home crowd attempted to heckle Draper throughout the four-and-a-half-hour contest, and the British number one responded by grabbing the crowd’s ears on several occasions.
Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime’s match against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was moved from court eight after players complained about noise coming from neighboring courts.
French crowds gathered to watch Arthur Cazaux take on Britain’s Jacob Fearnley on Court Six and Ugo Humbert take on Lebanon’s Hadi Habib on Court Three.
Vekic also received plenty of support from her supporters as she struggled to overcome Dart, who provided the first blow in the deciding set, before the world number 19 won five consecutive games to complete her victory.
