Revealed: The one-word gender announcement you missed that proves the Australian Open has gone woke

The Australian Open has been criticised in the past for being ‘too woke’ – and one recent change to proceedings at Melbourne Park is bound to annoy many fans of the Grand Slam.

In 2023, the iconic tournament came under fire for creating a special ‘mob ticket’ price for the tournament’s First Nations Day.

Then days later, organisers were torched for not doing anything to celebrate Australia Day in order to avoid conflict over the under-fire national holiday.

Now the player introductions feature the announcer at Melbourne Park saying the gender-neutral ‘and their opponent’ instead of ‘and his/her opponent’ when the stars first walk out onto the playing surface.

For instance, after Nicolas Jarry was welcomed to the court on Tuesday, the announcer said: ‘…and their opponent this afternoon, would you please welcome, from Italy, Jannik Sinner’.

The woke introduction was more traditional at past Australian Opens.

The Australian Open uses gender neutral terminology when welcoming players like Naomi Osaka (pictured) onto the court

The iconic Grand Slam has been criticised over the last several years for being ‘too woke’ (pictured, defending men’s singles champion Jannik Sinner)

It is not known if there are any gender non-binary players at this year’s event.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the organisers of the Grand Slam for comment on the introductions.

During last year’s tournament Jordan Thompson slammed the Australian Open as ‘the wokest tournament ever’ after the hometown star was left mystified by a new rule change that angered a number of players.

During his first-round match against fellow countryman Aleksandar Vukic, Thompson was preparing to serve at 3-1 up in the second set when fans continued to make their way into Court 3.

Rules for the 2024 tournament seemed to be relaxed to allow spectators to enter stadiums between games, not solely at the change of ends, but that led to problems because there’s a shorter break between normal games compared to the gap in play during a change of ends.

As a result, Thompson was left standing and waiting for fans to find their seats, and after asking the umpire to address the late fans, he was left stunned to learn of the rule change.

‘You’re kidding me, really? Oh my god,’ he said. ‘This is the wokest tournament ever.’

‘It’s just not smart,’ Thompson added at the conclusion of his service game, with the umpire clarifying the new rules for him.

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley insisted that no official change had been made for the 2024 tournament.

‘I think it’s really important to note there have been no rule change,’ he told Nine’s Today.

‘Basically what we’ve said is that we want the fans to sit in their seats when the play is on, that is the expectation coming into the stadium and that has always been the case and hasn’t changed this year either.

‘What we have done is we have tried to get the fans into their seats quicker because the worst situation you can have as a fan is when you’re waiting outside the stadium for three games or five games, you could be waiting up to 30 minutes before you get in, and we don’t want that for the fans either.

‘So we’re finding a way to get fans into their seats as quick as possible and whatever seat you can find, you sit down when the play is on, that is the expectation.

‘The fans know that when you come to watch the tennis and you’re in your seat, the idea is not to disrupt the play.’