Alex de Minaur, the seventh seed at the Italian Open, was forced to confront a front-row spectator during his tense second-round match against Italian wildcard Luca Nardi on Saturday night.
Known for his calm demeanor, De Minaur was visibly frustrated when a spectator disrupted him while serving at 4-4 in the second set. The Australian paused play, walked to the back of the court, and addressed the crowd directly, asking, “Who was it? Who went like that?”
Chair umpire Nico Helwerth quickly intervened, asking the crowd for cooperation and calling for security. He then stepped down from his chair to personally warn the disruptive fan. “I’ve seen that you’ve done it. If you do it one more time, you will leave the stadium,” Helwerth said firmly.
Despite the incident, De Minaur regained his focus and won the game to love. He later broke Nardi in the final game to secure a 6-4, 7-5 victory, with the second set alone lasting 74 minutes.
Reflecting on the match, De Minaur said, “It wasn’t easy by any means. The tennis wasn’t great from either side, but I stayed mentally strong and that helped me through. I had so many chances I didn’t take, and it would’ve been easy to lose my head.”
The win advanced De Minaur to the third round of the tournament, which has already seen its fair share of drama.
