MELBOURNE, Australia — Ben Shelton, the 22-year-old American who made the Australian Open semifinals Wednesday with a win over Lorenzo Sonego, added his voice to the refrain of gamers who’ve been important of the broadcasters and on-court interviewers in his post-match information convention.
“I’ve been a bit of bit shocked this week with how gamers have been handled by the broadcasters,” Shelton mentioned.
He topped his record of complaints with Tony Jones, the Channel 9 sportscaster, who taunted Serbian followers, referred to as Novak Djokovic names and yelled “kick him out” on air. It was an obvious reference to Djokovic being deported from Australia two years in the past over Covid-19 protocols.
Jones apologized on the air, saying that he “overstepped the mark,” after Djokovic referred to as his feedback “insulting and offensive.” He had refused to do on-court interviews till he acquired the apology.
“I don’t assume that was only a single occasion,” Shelton mentioned. “I’ve observed it with completely different individuals, not simply myself.”
He talked about American Learner Tien’s on-court interview, a stilted dialog at 3 a.m. by which an exhausted and dazed Tien, 19, turned the article of some mocking when two questions left him a bit speechless after practically 5 hours of tennis in the midst of the evening. He had simply knocked out Daniil Medvedev, the No. 5 seed.
“19 yr olds aren’t meant to be that good,” the interviewer, John Fitzgerald, mentioned. Then he requested Tien if he had ever heard of his subsequent opponent, Corentin Moutet.
“I observed it with Learner Tien in one among his matches,” Shelton mentioned. “I believe when he beat Medvedev, his post-match interview. I believed it was sort of embarrassing and disrespectful.”
Shelton then turned to his personal experiences. After his fourth-round win over Gael Monfils, the interviewer mentioned to Shelton that Monfils could possibly be his father. Monfils is Black, as is Shelton, who responded, “is {that a} Black joke?”
He later mentioned he didn’t assume the interviewer meant any malice within the remark, however that it nonetheless made him uncomfortable.
“There are some feedback which were made to me in post-match interviews by a few completely different guys. As we speak on the courtroom, ‘hey, Ben, how does it really feel that irrespective of who you play in your subsequent match, nobody goes to be cheering for you?’
“I imply, could also be true, however I simply don’t assume the remark is respectful from a man I’ve by no means met earlier than in my life.”
Shelton mentioned he felt the broadcasters and interviewers weren’t doing a ok job selling tennis.
“I really feel like broadcasters must be serving to us develop our sport and assist these athletes who simply gained matches on the most important stage take pleasure in one among their greatest moments. I really feel like there’s simply been quite a lot of negativity. I believe that’s one thing that should change.”
Tennis Australia was not instantly ready to answer Shelton’s feedback.
(Nick Denholm / Getty Photographs)