Australian Open: Did the Happy Slam become the Angry Slam? Or is tennis just changing?

MELBOURNE, Australia — Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that’s got only a little to do with the results on the courts. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. Sometimes I think it’s disrespectful,” said Pat Rafter, a retired Australian player who won two U.S. Open titles and reached the No. This is the Australian Open.” Also drawing attention: Some folks involved in television coverage at Melbourne Park, whether those whose interviewing skills were lampooned on social media — and described as " embarrassing ” by Ben Shelton, the American who reached the men’s semifinals — or the commentator who insulted Novak Djokovic during an on-air appearance before eventually apologizing days later after the 24-time Grand Slam champion demanded it. That’s seen in various ways, from allowing movement in the stands while play is in progress — something unheard of for decade upon decade — to permitting coaching during contests and making it part of the spectacle with courtside boxes or trying to meet kids where they are by posting feeds on YouTube of real-time animated streams of matches made to look like a video game.