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 1 - 10 of 30

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  1. couldn't agree with resy_fremde more there is a­ serious lack of security for players at all tennis­ events and as little hatred as tennis sturs up, you­ never know with some nutters.

    From Boris, on Mon 8 Jun 12:00AM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Morituri
    I would,much,rather see a male.streaker for my­ photo al"bum";D
    Hihihihihihihihhi
    Love Jess­ xxx

    From jexbj, on Sun 7 Jun 11:42PM
  3. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    It,could have been,me i would,have,kissed Roger,to­ death ;D
    Hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi
    Love Jess xxx

    From jexbj, on Sun 7 Jun 11:40PM

  4. I much prefer to see a female streaker than that weirdo­ running around the court like a chicken !

    From Morituri, on Sun 7 Jun 11:37PM

  5. yeye pascal showed balls ,and stupid security stood­ still,.. lol,.. well it is normal to be scared bcoz it­ could be some idiot with knife or smtn,...

    From Jane, on Sun 7 Jun 11:33PM

  6. The referee reacted faster than security! Pascal Maria­ was the only one who didn't freeze there!

    From resy_fremde, on Sun 7 Jun 10:58PM

  7. it's disturbing to see how easy it is to jump there­ and just toch him. I mean what if he was armed?

    From resy_fremde, on Sun 7 Jun 10:54PM

  8. Disgracefull security by the Roland Garros officials.­ What if it was some crazed fans with a knife? Did you­ see how long it took for security to even come out onto­ the court let alone take the idiot down. Security­ should have been much better so as soon as a fan trys­ to do that they are stopped well before they get­ anywhere near the players.

    Today Roger was lucky. I­ hope lessons are learnt from this. Have they learnt­ nothing from what happened to Monica Seles?

    From tyrone100smith1979, on Sun 7 Jun 10:49PM

  9. After what happened to Seles here,you would think they­ could offer the players the piece of mind that they­ wont be attacked on the court,had this idiot been­ harbouring another motive,this incident could have been­ every bit as tragic as the Seles affair.Sort out the­ security Roland Garros.

    From carlos480bc, on Sun 7 Jun 10:37PM

  10. dat guy is gay

    From SQUEE, on Sun 7 Jun 10:28PM
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