Dominic Thiem, the world No 4, has accused Serena Williams of having “a bad personality”, after he was hastily ejected from the main interview room on Saturday night for Williams to take her turn.

Thiem had initially acquiesced to the officials’ request that he should move to a smaller room, but when he realised that he and the German-speaking media had been downgraded to make space for Williams, he felt slighted and stormed out of the media centre with the words: “I’m not a junior player any more.”

Yesterday Thiem, 25, discussed the incident in an interview with Eurosport.

“I wasn’t angry or frustrated,” he said. “It’s the principle. It doesn’t matter if it is me who sits in there… every player has to wait. It also shows a bad personality in my opinion.

“I’m 100 per cent sure [Roger] Federer or [Rafael] Nadal would never do something like that.”