The players at the Australian Open are under close observation. Tennis star Iga Swiatek is annoyed by the many shots of sometimes intimate moments. She demands changes and provokes with a rhetorical question.
Iga Swiatek has had enough of the many camera angles at the Australian Open. After the recent Coco Gauff incident, she asked whether the athletes were “tennis players or zoo animals” who were also filmed “when they poop?”
This statement was “obviously exaggerated”, but it would be “nice to have some privacy” and “to have your own process without being constantly watched,” explained the Polish woman.
Gauff smashed her racket out of frustration after her clear defeat against Elina Svitolina from Ukraine in the catacombs of the Rod Laver Arena. The world number three thought she was unobserved, but was filmed by cameras so that everyone could see her outburst of anger.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Gauff said. She specifically looked for a place where she thought she would be unobserved because she didn’t want to be a bad role model, especially for children. “Maybe we should talk about it. I feel like the only private place at this tournament is the locker room.”
Djokovic also reacts with irony
Record Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic agreed and commented smugly: “I’m surprised we don’t have cameras while we shower.” But he doesn’t believe it will get better. “We live in a society where content is everything. I can hardly imagine that this trend can be reversed.”
Swiatek emphasized: “We are tennis players, we should be watched on the court and in the press – that’s our job. But it’s not our job to be a meme just because we forget our accreditation.” Swiatek called on the organizers to enter into a dialogue with the professionals in order to define clear limits for camera use and sensitive situations.
Camera access is more restricted at the other Grand Slam tournaments than at Melborune.
Tennis Australia defends the camera system, saying the footage serves to create a “deeper connection” between fans and players. According to the organizers, there are rules about how and where filming takes place, and they try to maintain a balance between providing insights to the audience and protecting the players.
