Last month at the US Open, annoying public behavior from a fan disrupted on-court action between Jordan Thompson and Corentin Moutet. The Frenchman was repeatedly affected by a certain person in the crowd. Despite the umpire urging, “Buddy, please don’t talk to the players, please,” the fan kept up their antics. Eventually, they were kicked out of the stadium. Within a month, a similar incident transpired during the Shanghai Masters this week. Undoubtedly, social media erupted with opinions.

During the first-round match between Italy’s Matteo Berrettini and France’s Adrian Mannarino, a 46-year-old woman’s unruly behavior caught everyone’s attention. She could be seen in videos that emerged from the incident on Weibo, repeatedly shouting from her seat at the players. A young boy was next to her, presumably her son, watching the match. On several occasions, she was spotted forcing the child to focus on the game while she herself engaged in disruptive shouting and clapping.

Soon enough, security personnel tried to reason with her, but she remained unbothered by requests to maintain decorum in the stands. Eventually, the authorities had no choice but to forcibly remove her from the premises to ensure uninterrupted play. At one point, she could be seen retrieving what seemed like a passport, allegedly Swedish, and waving it at the authorities. Yet that EU charm did nothing to help her case.

The standoff between the woman and the authorities lasted for a few minutes, during which play was paused. Berrettini stood at the baseline, hands on his hips, while Mannarino patiently took a seat next to the chair umpire until the commotion cleared up. Ultimately, her resistance fell flat. The woman was forcibly carried out with two officers flanking her. Her removal prompted the crowd to erupt in applause and cheers.

The young boy was escorted to safety separately by another officer as he watched the incident unravel helplessly. A later statement released by the Minhang branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau stated that the woman had been drinking excessively and, since she ignored multiple warnings from the police, she was issued an administrative penalty. Since the episode occurred at the end of the first and beginning of the second set, the chair umpire James Keothavong determined that the outcome would not be affected and allowed play to continue as normal.

However, netizens did not take too kindly to the obnoxious spectator behavior.

Fans call out “public behavior” of the annoying spectator at the Shanghai Masters

One fan wrote, “Such a disgrace. Deservedly ejected.” Another echoed similar sentiments, remarking, “Wow. What despicable public behavior. Cops showed a lot of restraint. Hopefully, some time in a holding cell will teach her a lesson.”

It is definitely not the first time a spectator’s behavior has affected a match. Back in June, during the quarterfinal battle between 24-time slam king Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, a similar incident took place. In the fourth set, when Djokovic was about to serve, a female fan started shouting. She kept doing it repeatedly despite the chair umpire Louise Azemar Engzell requesting, “Madame, madame.”

Jim Courier, the former ATP icon who was on commentary duty, later informed, “Security is moving in quickly here.” The security guards were then seen engaging with a man alongside the female fan. Ultimately, it was the man who got booted from the stadium. Courier’s co-commentator Nick Mullins later reacted, “His evening looks like it’s over.”

Meanwhile, one fan wrote, “This woman needs to get checked,” commenting on her irrational behavior at the Shanghai Masters. Another person took a jab at her, saying, “Zero social etiquette or idiot. ✅🤡🤡” Back in 2022, there was another instance during Indian Wells, when one of two people was kicked out of the encounter between Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov. According to Shapovalov, two individuals were repeatedly shouting and making it impossible for him to focus on his game.

Lastly, one fan mentioned that security should have taken her out much earlier instead of waiting patiently: “It took too long… this should have been done quicker.”