British No 1 Jack Draper smashed his racquet in fury during third set of his third round match at at the Australian Open.
Draper had led by a set against Australian hope Aleksandar Vukic, but the home favourite levelled the match by taking the second.
Frustration showed for Draper when Vukic moved to set point in the third, with the British star unable to return a serve.
Draper was immediately seen destroying his racquet, leading to the 15th seed being handed a court violation by the umpire.
Vukic went on to claim the set, leaving Draper facing the prospect of needing to win in five sets for the third consecutive match if he is to reach the fourth round.
Draper was booed by the Australian crowd following the incident, with the 23-year-old heard utterly an expletive when sitting down at the end of the set.
Jack Draper smashed his racquet in fury at the end of the third set against Aleksandar Vukic
The British No 1 showed his frustrations after going set point down to the Australian player
Draper received a code violation for the racquet smash and went on to lose the set
Draper was spotted sarcastically applauding the crowd and raised his thumb up to fans in the Margaret Court Arena.
Fans claimed Draper had ‘lost it’ with his frustrations boiling over against the heavily backed Australian player at Melbourne Park.
Some fans claimed Draper had attempted to disrupt Vukic’s attempts to serve out the set by taking his time to replace his racquet.
‘Jack Draper has absolutely lost his mind here, smashing his racket. He needs to lock in here or his #AusOpen journey will be over for this year,’ one fan wrote.
‘The way Jack Draper just obliterated his racket… Sheesh,’ a second said.
‘That really should be a point penalty for the code violation for racket abuse and wasting time. It should double up for Draper. But by god Vukic is playing well,’ another added.
‘Jack Draper makes Aleksandar Vukic wait for a while before he can play his set point. Draper smashed his racket and wasn’t in a rush to get a new one,’ a third said.
Draper battled back into the contest by clinching the fourth set on a tie break to continue his marathon start to the Grand Slam.
Draper was seen raising his thumb to the crowd after being heckled following the incident
The British star then sarcastically applauded locals in the Margaret Court Arena
Draper is bidding to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time
The 23-year-old had already achieved his best showing at the Australian Open by reaching the third round, despite coming into the tournament short of matches after an injury concern in the build-up.
Draper came into the season off the back of his best Grand Slam performance to date, after reaching the US Open semi-finals last year.
Vukic has enjoyed the best Grand Slam run of his career to date, with the Australian having made the second round one in Melbourne and twice at Wimbledon.
The winner will face four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round.
Draper is the latest star to have faced a backlash from the Australian crowd when taking on a home hopeful this year.
American Danielle Collins on Thursday slapped her backside and blew kisses to hecklers following her victory over Australia’s Destanee Aiava
She later boasted about her ‘big fat $180,000 (£147,000)’ pay cheque when taking on the crowd in an on-court interview.
Collins, who made the Australian Open final back in 2022, has already scooped up £147,000 ($USD180,000/AU$290,000) in prize money by reaching the third round.
Danielle Collins slapped her backside at the crowd after beating an Australian on Thursday
The American boasted to fans of claiming a ‘big fat pay cheque’ by reaching the third round
Collins also blew kisses to fans and said she would use her pay cheque for a luxury holiday
The tournament’s 10th seed later doubled down on her on-court comments in her press conference.
Collins said: ‘Well I’m going to be here for two hours, putting up with all these people, I might as well take the bigger pay cheque, right?’
‘I was super happy to do that and one of the greatest things about being a professional athlete are that the people that don’t like you and that hate you, they actually pay your bills.
‘It’s kind of a cool concept and obviously my professional career is not going to last forever and I just remind myself every day when I have that kind of stuff that they’re paying my bills.
‘Every person that has bought a ticket and has come out here to heckle me can do what they do. It’s all going towards the Danielle Collins fund. So like, yeah, bring it on I love it.’
When asked about her holiday plans, Collins expressed a desire to have a luxury trip to one particular location.
‘Me and my girlfriends we love a five-star holiday so I can guarantee that next check is going to go towards a five-star trip, hopefully to the Bahamas.
‘We like boats. Big boats. We like yachts. Yeah, we’ll post about it and let you guys know how it goes.’
Novak Djokovic, the 10-time men’s champion, dealt with hecklers differently after his victory on Friday.
Novak Djokovic hilariously dealt with a heckler following his victory over Tomas Machac
Djokovic’s comments left the interviewer and those in the Rod Laver Arena crowd in stitches
As he begun to discuss his game, a largely incoherent heckler shouted something in the direction of the Serb.
Instead of biting back at the barb, Djokovic calmly replied: ‘Sorry mate, I have a wife. We can have a drink though… maybe you had a few already.’
This left the interviewer – former world No9 Andrea Petkovic – in stitches, before Djokovic added: ‘Him and I were going back-and-forth for quite a while actually.
When questioned jokingly about whether he fancied a date with the heckler, Djokovic continued to entertain those in attendance.
‘Listen I’m happy to have a drink with him,’ he added. ‘Now the match is over we can reflect nicely on what we said to each other during match.’
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