Just 24 hours after the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray were irritated by a brand new chant sweeping through Melbourne Park, a mystery sound has incited the ire of Alexander Zverev.
The German star swept aside Australia’s John Millman in the pair’s second-round clash, running out a 6-4 6-4 6-0 winner, but only did so after overcoming a moment of frustration.
The No.3 seed was holding a lead in the opening set when he complained to the chair umpire regarding a mystery sound saying, “You hear it too, right?”
READ MORE: Frenchman’s mid-match selfie backfires in tiebreaker
“There’s a weird buzzing noise… it kind of sounds like when someone’s microphone gets left on or if something gets a bit too close to a speaker,” Dylan Alcott said in commentary for Nine.
“You can hear it throughout the stadium and it’s annoying both players.”
While the crowd in attendance was pro-Millman, Zverev praised the energy brought by the fans inside Rod Laver Arena.
READ MORE: Osaka unveils refreshing mindset shift after win
READ MORE: Kyrgios weighs in as Peng Shuai is seen in public
“I could really feel that you guys have been locked up for two years,” the German told the fans after his win.
“It was an amazing atmosphere and hopefully it’ll stay the same and get even louder for the next few matches.
“I’ve said it since COVID started, I think sports needs the atmosphere, sports needs the people.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re for me or against me, I enjoy the atmosphere, I enjoy the noise, I enjoy being on the court in front of all you guys.
Stream every match, every court of the Australian Open live and free on 9Now.
“Spectators bring the emotions and sports without spectators is like sports without emotion so I think it’s incredible that we’re going back to normal and it’s incredible to play in front of everybody.”
The 6-0 scoreline was the first time in Zverev’s career that he’d held an opponent to a bagel at Melbourne Park.
“It’s been a ball-striking bonanza tonight from Zverev,” said Australian tennis great Todd Woodbridge on Nine’s coverage of the match.
“That’s one of the best performances I’ve seen from early rounds of Grand Slams from Alexander Zverev.
“Such a clean performance start to finish. He started with the early break of serve right out of the blocks, but the third set was such clean tennis.”
Zverev will face Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot in the third round after Albot defeated Australian wildcard Aleksandar Vukic in his second-round clash.