Felix Auger-Aliassime and Arthur Rinderknech were fully aware of the explicit comments being shouted from the crowd during their Round of 16 tennis match at the Mallorca Championships. The latter showed the utmost class in making sure the former was comfortable during play.
They worked together to have the problematic spectators removed from the crowd even though it caused a lengthy stoppage in play.
This latest incident took place at a tennis match in Spain on Tuesday afternoon. Auger-Aliassime met Rinderknech in the Round of 16 at the ATP Tour tournament in Mallorca. Auger-Aliassime hails from Montreal in the French-Canadian province of Quebec. Rinderknech was born in Gassin, France.
They both speak French. They are both fluent in the language.
The same cannot be said for the people of Mallorca. As romance languages, French and Spanish are similar. But they are not the same.
Thus, a majority of people in attendance at Tuesday’s match could not understand what was being said by two unruly patrons even though the players could. It became a serious issue.
According to the broadcast, two specific men in the crowd made repeated inappropriate comments toward Felix Auger-Aliassime during service and even during rallies. The comments went unchecked at first because they were speaking a different language so nobody noticed.
However, Auger-Aliassime ultimately decided to speak up. Arthur Rinderknech confirmed his opponent’s complaint and suggested a conversation with the chair judge to figure out what to do.
All three involved parties agreed to a plan. It started with a warning. Play would continue momentarily, but if the comments were to continue, the match would be put on pause until the spectators were removed from the grounds.
And sure enough, the comments continued. Security stepped in to remove the patrons from the stands by force because they did not leave easily.
The tennis match was able to continue after a 10/15-minute stoppage. An unfortunate situation was handled with the utmost grace from both competitors. Arthur Rinderknech is a class act. He and Felix Auger-Aliassime worked together to solve the issue in a coherent and efficient manner.