Friday Fives: Things that can stop a Grand Slam

Published by Paul Moore

Streakers have stopped proceedings at Wimbledon on a number of occasions. Photo: Getty Images
From streakers to drones by way of pigeons, these are five things that have managed to stop a Grand Slam.

A bit of rain? Meh. In homage to a wet and wild Roland Garros, this week’s Friday Fives examines the things that can stop a Grand Slam in its tracks…

When scoreboards attack:
Forget the waterlogged courts, in 2015 the Roland Garros scoreboard went on the attack. The incident, which happened during the Tsonga v Nishikori quarterfinal, left one man vaguely injured.

The death of a drone:
The Americans are a nervy bunch. So when some bright spark decided to fly a drone over Pennetta v Niculescu at the US Open in 2015, there was bound to be problems. The drone crashed (fortunately nobody was watching), the match was temporarily suspended and various theories began to circulate.


That’s not a flood – this is a flood

Anything Roland Garros can do, the Aussie Open will try to do better (anyone for a roof… or three?). So if you think the French Open have it hard with rain water and flooding, check out what happened at the Aussie Open in 1995:


The obligatory animal invasion:

A list like this wouldn’t be complete without an animal. The videos of animal invasions are as plentisome as the critters who take an interest in the beautiful game. This persistent pigeon, though, is worth a watch:

People getting naked:
Yep. If you want to stop a tennis match and get people’s attention, there is one surefire way to do it:
Streakers have stopped proceedings at Wimbledon on a number of occasions. Photo: Getty Images

Streakers have disrupted Wimbledon a couple of times. Photo: Getty Images
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