Taylor Fritz not happy fans had to leave Rod Laver Arena during Novak Djokovic clash

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

World No. 31 Taylor Fritz wasn't happy that fans had to leave the court in the middle of the fourth set because he felt the fans were pushing for him against top-seeded Novak Djokovic. Fritz, a former world No. 24, recovered from two sets to force a decider but world No.

1 Djokovic won 7-6 (1) 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-2. During the fifth day of the Australian Open, it was announced that the State of Victoria was going into another lockdown and there wouldn't be fans at Melbourne Park for the next five days.

After the announcement, the fans were forced to leave Melbourne Park before the midnight and arrive to their homes before the start of another lockdown. During the fourth set of the Fritz and Djokovic, the players left the court for 10 minutes so fans could exit the Rod Laver Arena.

Frity wasn't too happy with that decision

''I mean, to be honest, like, completely honest, it's absolutely ridiculous that at a Grand Slam match we're asked to leave the court for 10 minutes in the middle of the match, like, in the middle of the fourth set,'' Fritz said, as revealed by Nikolaus Fink.

That shouldn't be a thing in a Grand Slam. You know, I understand the fact that Victoria is going back into lockdown and people have to go. If that's the case, then we shouldn't have played tonight if weren't going to finish the match on time.

I guess not having fans there did -- I feel -- hurt me because they were kind of pushing for me. But, you know, we still came back and I won the set. It's not like it made that big of a deal. I just think it's not really proper conditions to play a third round of a Slam.'

' Djokovic was dealing with an injury and his movement was clearly affected. But Fritz failed to capitalize on Djokovic not being at his best as the Serb won the fifth set to progress into the round-of-16.