On the day the French Open announced its ban on alcohol to stop crowds getting unruly, Australia's marathon man Thanasi Kokkinakis had his own way of dealing with a heckler during his epic comeback win over Giulio Zeppieri.
Out on Court 10 late on Thursday night with both Australian and Italian fans in boisterous mood while Kokkinakis forged a remarkable 1-6 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win, the Adelaide warrior turned on a Zeppieri supporter who tried to put him off in the fourth set tiebreak.
"Some guy with an Italian flag started hissing at five-all in the tiebreak on my second serve right as I threw the toss up. It backfired on him because Zeppieri missed his smash," said the Australian, weary but elated after his Thursday triumph.
Kokkinakis was so enraged, he screamed out at the flag-carrying fans, demanding to know "which of you wankers" was responsible.
"That doesn't sound like something I'd say," Kokkinakis said with a big grin. "I told him I wasn't too pleased with him - very politely."
Kokkinakis also had a run-in with qualifier Zeppieri over a fifth-set incident in which he was unhappy that the Italian whooped with delight at a break-earning winner that Kokkinakis thought was a fluke.
"He yelled 'come on' or 'allez' after a shank, and I took that personally," said Kokkinakis.
"I asked him if he had hit that with his strings. He said 'yes', and I said 'good joke'."
But the South Australian was adamant it had actually been quite a "mellow", albeit topsy-turvy affair played in a decent spirit, before he prevailed with a fourth successive victory in matches that have gone the five-set distance.
But after a long, rain-interrupted day only finished with him prevailing at 11.35pm, two minutes earlier than when he beat Alexei Popyrin in a similar epic on Tuesday, he looked shattered.
"I'm running on fumes at the moment, it's tough. I really need to do it easier but guys are good and I struggle with my focus a lot of the time.
"But finding a win ugly is better than not winning at all, but it definitely catches up with you in these grand-slam matches."
He was left wondering what shape he will be in when he plays US No.1 Taylor Fritz in Saturday's third round, especially as he understood he had a doubles match to play on Friday with Denis Shapovalov.
Asked how he planned to deal with that, Kokkinakis grinned: "Let's just say our opponents have a good shot …"
The saving grace for Kokkinakis? After a quick check of the order of play, it appears organisers have spared him having to play that Friday doubles.
