Day two of Indian Wells has barely gotten started, but some fans are already causing a stir. Chair umpire Fergus Murphy had to publicly call out a group of spectators in a swanky corporate box when they disturbed a first-round contest between Grigor Dimitrov and Terence Atmane on the main Stadium court.
Atmane was attempting to serve at 1-1 40-40, but their conversation was so loud it could be heard all the way down at court level, and the umpire stepped in. “Thanks, ladies and gentlemen in the corporate box that I’m pointing at,” Murphy said, pointing over at the culprits.
But they were so engrossed in their conversation that the umpire asked anyone nearby to intervene. “Anybody near there, if you can ask them to keep their voices down please. Can somebody just, can you go across and just ask them to…? Voices please, in the corporate box,” he added.
The crowd responded, whistling and shouting “quiet” while Atmane tried to grab their attention, waving both arms up at the box. But the spectators were still none the wiser, and even waved back at the French world No. 52, believing he was just being friendly. “She waved back,” he laughed.
“Silencio, from Fergus Murphy. I mean, it’s only 11.23 in the morning, as though they’re holding some sort of conference,” commentator Kevin Skinner joked. “Not quite conscious of the fact they’re being requested to keep it down. They think they’re waving back at Atmane!”
The interruption only added to the drama of what had been a tight game. Atmane had already saved three break points and held to get on the board. He and Dimitrov traded breaks at the beginning of the match, and this was the first hold or serve.
But former world No. 3 Dimitrov continued to put pressure on his opponent and earned another break in the seventh game, going on to take the first set 6-4 in 40 minutes. And things will only get tougher for the eventual winner, as they are playing for the chance to face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.
As the top seed, Alcaraz has a bye directly into the second round and awaits either Dimitrov or Atmane. The Spanish superstar has not lost a match so far this year, he’s got a 12-0 record after lifting trophies at the Australian Open and the ATP 500 event in Doha.
Alcaraz has a 4-2 record against Dimitrov and beat the Bulgarian here in the last 16 here last year, but Dimitrov had won their previous two meetings at Masters 1000 events in Miami and Shanghai. Atmane, meanwhile, has never faced the seven-time Major champion.
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