Beer, gambling and profanity have the potential to be a combustible mixture in a stadium filled with thousands of spectators. And typically, the locales where these elements lead to an explosion are at baseball, basketball, football and hockey games.
Apparently though, tennis stadiums are also an environment where unseemly behavior can take center stage and temporarily detract from the show of athleticism at its highest level.
According to NYDailyNews.com, three unidentified fans were banned from returning to the US Open until 2013 for their participation in a melee that took place at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night.
"If they come on the grounds any time before then, they can be arrested for trespassing," said Chris Widmaier, spokesman for the United States Tennis Association. The ban covers the rest of this year’s tournament through September 30, 2012.
The fighting ensued when a woman slapped a young man across the face after confronting him about his excessive use of profanity.
"C'mon, smack me again," he taunted. "Go ahead ... I don't give a f--- what anybody wants. I got a lot of money on this game, and I f------ paid for my ticket."
Additional taunts by the beer-swilling man finally prompted the woman’s companion, a bespectacled older gentleman, to engage in a confrontation that started with an attempted choke hold and ended with both men tumbling down the stairs of the upper deck of the stadium.
The commotion briefly halted play between third-seeded Novak Djokovic and Philipp Petzschner as all parties involved were handcuffed and taken to a loading dock area, but released when they declined to press charges.
Djokovic went on to win the match in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), to advance to the third round of the tournament, where he’ll face American hopeful and Yonkers native James Blake.
As for the fight between three grown adults in the stands of a tennis match, there’s only one question left to ask here.
Really?
Ultimately though, the burden of the blame lies with the couple for placing their hands on another individual in an aggressive manner. They had absolutely no right to administer their own brand of justice no matter how much profanity was being spewed by the young man, who would have been well within his rights to press charges for assault.
Comments
There were persons of three generation involved and the youngest one showed most maturity. He laughed away the slap inflicted on him by the lady. He might have been the agent provocateur, as the reports suggest, but the physical violence on him could have been much more provocative, coming from a lady in full public view. His restraint is only to be appreciated, though he could be condemned on other issues.
Let's face it folks, ours is a violent culture. Just look at any given hockey game where fist-fighting is not only tolerated, but encouraged.
Look at the tremendous growth of MMA over the past few years.
Enough of us humans love violence so much that it comes out everywhere in our lives.
I really feel the pain of peace loving humans, but let's be honest, as a species, we are still using extreme violence to solve our problems. And so as governments do, so do the people.
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