<p>Tennis icon Pat Cash has criticised fans as being “out of control” at the Australian Open after wild scenes during home hope Nick Kyrgios’ loss to Benoit Paire.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Cash said he was embarrassed at the crowd’s baiting of the French seed and warned there could be a repeat of the tournament’s infamous crowd violence.<br /><br />“The crowd were absolutely going crazy. Actually I’d say out of control,” Australia’s Cash told Fox Sports, referring to the five-set marathon on Thursday.<br /><br />“I thought the umpire didn’t handle that at all ... it was a joke.<br /><br />“Paire would throw the ball up and they’d go ‘Miss it!’, stuff like this. It was out of control.”He added: “It’s the Australian Open, it’s got international players, it’s not a Davis Cup, it’s not a football match. “A fair amount of the crowd had no respect whatsoever for a seeded French player, absolutely no respect.<br /><br />“I was quite embarrassed and I think the officials need to do something about it.”Fan violence has marred previous editions of the Australian Open, and Cash said there could have been a repeat if any French fans had taken exception. “It got out of hand a few years ago with the Greeks and the Croatians having fights, I don’t want to get into who started what but if there were French people there they could have been really upset about what was going on,” he said.</p>
<p>Tennis icon Pat Cash has criticised fans as being “out of control” at the Australian Open after wild scenes during home hope Nick Kyrgios’ loss to Benoit Paire.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Cash said he was embarrassed at the crowd’s baiting of the French seed and warned there could be a repeat of the tournament’s infamous crowd violence.<br /><br />“The crowd were absolutely going crazy. Actually I’d say out of control,” Australia’s Cash told Fox Sports, referring to the five-set marathon on Thursday.<br /><br />“I thought the umpire didn’t handle that at all ... it was a joke.<br /><br />“Paire would throw the ball up and they’d go ‘Miss it!’, stuff like this. It was out of control.”He added: “It’s the Australian Open, it’s got international players, it’s not a Davis Cup, it’s not a football match. “A fair amount of the crowd had no respect whatsoever for a seeded French player, absolutely no respect.<br /><br />“I was quite embarrassed and I think the officials need to do something about it.”Fan violence has marred previous editions of the Australian Open, and Cash said there could have been a repeat if any French fans had taken exception. “It got out of hand a few years ago with the Greeks and the Croatians having fights, I don’t want to get into who started what but if there were French people there they could have been really upset about what was going on,” he said.</p>