French Open - Federer scared by court invader

Eurosport - Mon, 08 Jun 23:26:00 2009

Roger Federer said it was "scary" and "frightening" when a spectator jumped on to the court from the stands and tried to put a hat on his head during his French Open final against Sweden's Robin Soderling.

TENNIS Federer - 0

Wearing a red shirt and carrying a red and blue flag, the intruder made a beeline for Federer as Soderling was getting ready to serve at 2-1 down in the second set.

The startled world number two backed away and the man ran around court and jumped over the net before he was rugby tackled by security guards.

"I didn't know exactly what happened. All of a sudden I heard the crowd, and I looked over and he jumped over the fence or something," Federer said after winning his first French Open title.

"That gave me a fright, just like seeing him so close right away."

The incident again highlighted how easy it is to breach security at tennis tournaments, especially since it is supposed to have been tightened after Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by a Steffi Graf fan at a Hamburg tournament in 1993.

"The good thing is like it happened before so that's why I guess I didn't panic," added Federer.

"It happened in Wimbledon before when two guys ran out on the court, and once I think it was in Montreal when I lost to Roddick when I was playing for my number one ranking in the third set.

"This guy, I don't know, he looked at me and I was not sure what he wanted. It seemed like he wanted to give me something.

"So I was actually okay, because I saw he wasn't pulling for anything stupid. It definitely felt uncomfortable once he came close to me."

The man was on court for only 18 seconds but he had done enough to rattle Federer, who promptly lost three points in a row.

"Looking back, it definitely threw me out of my rhythm a little bit. One game later I thought that maybe I should have sat down and taken a minute or two to kind of reflect on what just happened," Federer explained.

His Swedish opponent was left bewildered as he watched the man running around the court.

"It wasn't really a nice thing to see. I think the security was at least as surprised as we were. It's very bad that things like this can happen," Soderling said.

In another famous incident, a female streaker ran on to Wimbledon's Centre Court just before the 1996 men's final between Richard Krajicek and Malivai Washington.

Reuters

Comment 11 - 30 of 30

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  1. THATS MESSED UP AND FUNNY , FEDERER KEPT HIS COOL AS HE­ ALWAYS IS

    From Joseph D, on Wed 22 Jul 4:09AM

  2. Honestly such a pansy!

    From Nicholas, on Tue 9 Jun 4:12AM

  3. Looking at the video sequence I can hardly imagine how­ Mirka must have felt with that red psycho coming at her­ man. And what's even more strange that guy ran so­ fast he could almost reach to Soderling too before they­ took him down.

    From risimko, on Mon 8 Jun 8:57PM

  4. I missed this exhibition while taking a break from the­ TV match and learned actually only from news but­ couldn't really handle this. What a danger there­ for Federer with some freak getting to him even trying­ to pull the piece of red stuff around his neck. Thumbs­ down for organizers this was a serious misfortune. Now­ I admire Federer's resiliance even more then before­ if he was able to get over it and play the match till­ the victorious end.

    From risimko, on Mon 8 Jun 8:52PM

  5. im writing an email to yahoo to have ferrrr banned,­ thats just wrong.

    From peri, on Mon 8 Jun 8:04PM

  6. Ferrrrrrr, you stupid idiot. It's people like you­ that help to promote the violence. How would you feel­ if it happened to you or somebody close to you? You may­ not like Federer, you may not like Nadal, Djokovi,­ Murray or any of the other players, but even as a joke­ (which I sincerely hope it is) it's sick and does­ not have a place on this or any other websites.

    From Zuzana, on Mon 8 Jun 7:39PM

  7. the media should not publish the photos of those stupid­ people, maybe it would not happen that often. most of­ them are doing just to get to the­ screen/newspapers.

    on the other hand and it is a­ serious deficiency of the security services of the­ tournament.
    just remember when monica seles was stabbed­ by a brain sick spectator...

    From Zoltán, on Mon 8 Jun 7:16PM

  8. chrystal_rainbow, moderator react to people's­ complaints. there a button that says "report­ abuse" so why don't you click on it and report­ a spam, an indecent content or any thing that you think­ inappropriate? That is better than whining for free.

    From Half A Brain, on Mon 8 Jun 6:44PM

  9. In New Zealand, pitch invasion is a crime that one­ could be jailed for. it is because they had enough of­ those naked runners

    From Half A Brain, on Mon 8 Jun 5:38PM

  10. passions run high in many sports but comments like­ #21/22 are juvenile and I can't understand where­ the mediator goes when messages like this come through.­ If I write something nice it oftens gets turned down,­ so why let these sort of comments through on a site­ that is meant for constructive comment? Well done to­ all players in RG and special congratulations to Roger­ and Robin for a great match!!!

    From chrystal_rainbow, on Mon 8 Jun 4:54PM

  11. that jimmy jump guy is crazy and should be locked up­­ and checked by specialists. he is dangerous in ways he­­ himself cannot foresee,players could be injured by­­ mistake, but worse,he could emulate others to do­­ similar stunts with much darker agendas,and for­ this,if­ he's not deemed insane,he should face­ serious­ prison terms,not as an example to others for­ we know it­ rarely works,but because this is serious,he­ has the­ right to his views,but this is not freedom of­­ expression by wordings,it is actions as dangerous as­­ driving the wrong way on the highway,for it is not­ your­ own death you're defying,but the death of­ innocents­ too.You're not a hero Jimmy­ Jump,you're the bad­ guy and have to stop or be­ stopped,sorry

    From coolworld, on Mon 8 Jun 4:08PM

  12. In the first moment it looked like as it is live tv­ advertising of RG and we were confused. What a shame­ for RG organizer and security! Hope it will never­ happen anywhere.

    From mirjanav2000, on Mon 8 Jun 3:25PM

  13. tyrone100smith1979, I am pretty sure the fans have to­ go through a metal detector. A knife would set it off­ while a cloth banner won't. As much as it pain me­ to say this(I am a Barca fan), the banner was of the­ Barcelona FC's shield. I used to be annoyed at some­ MU fans all last year, but I think some Barca fans are­ going to drive me crazy now.

    From elson l, on Mon 8 Jun 1:33PM

  14. Alright Jexbj, I'll streaker for you on a pitch­ near you ! lol

    From Morituri, on Mon 8 Jun 9:14AM

  15. Yes jexbj, judging from your inane comments that is­ just the stupid sort of thing you would do.

    From Ronsenglish, on Mon 8 Jun 8:20AM

  16. This guy is Jimmy Jump and apart from his numerous­ entries during football matches, he has made an entry­ during a tennis match in the past: Moya vs Roddick,­ 2004 Davis Cup final.

    From bulls_on_parade_7, on Mon 8 Jun 7:37AM

  17. Hopefully the tennis officials will in the future­ prevent such things from happening on the court.­ It's really scary and they need to tighten the­ security. Otherwise we'll start to see more and­ more crazy fans trying to perturb the game.

    From Ananda, on Mon 8 Jun 7:34AM

  18. i think that there has to be some security at the­ court-like the linesmen(may be not so many but it's­ silly to think that the guy will wait for security to­ come out from where they were!) Federer was lucky­ today-thanks GOD, but who knows what can happen next­ time?

    From suzichkaa, on Mon 8 Jun 7:29AM

  19. This guy was very selfish because it could have cost­ Federer his concentration which he did so well to hold­ onto, PRAT, need less to say very dangerous

    From janice m, on Mon 8 Jun 7:19AM

  20. EVEN AS THE UMPIRE WAS LEAVING HE'S CHAIR TO GO­ AFTER THE IMPOSTER THE LINESMEN WHERE STILL­ STANDING...HOW LAME!!!!!
    m glad d guy dint have other­ motives.thnk God!

    From Olucci N, on Mon 8 Jun 7:10AM
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