As the women’s double match built up tension inside the court, a quirky little fellow decided to interrupt the match and steal the scene.
The amusing incident occurred during a women’s double match on Court 5 on Saturday evening between Greet Minnen and Yanina Wickmayer and Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva.
The squirrel first made its appearance when Siegemund was about to serve the ball. No one seemed to notice the little buddy at first, and with the players unbothered, the action continued on court 5.
But right when Zvonareva put away a volley to win the point, the squirrel dashed across the back of the court, just behind Minnen and Wickmayer. And this stunt drew the attention of everyone and garnered a few laughs from the commentators. The camera quickly zoomed in on the furry fifth participant, as the commentators said:
“Oh my gosh, because of the squirrel (laughs), this match has now had a little bit of everything in it.”
It stopped everyone in their tracks, including that of the players, which relieved the tension in court, albeit temporarily.
All eyes were on the squirrel as he struggled to make his way out of the court. He dashed around the court for a few seconds before jumping over the barrier near the audience. His first attempt, however, was a failure. As he bounced back to the court, the commentator continued to narrate the events:
“Oh no.”
“It doesn’t want to go that way.”
He ran back and forth again before spotting the exit that he was looking for. And just as he was about to jump, the commentator asked:
“I say my good man, do you have a ticket?”
“He’s got a credential.”
The US Open Tennis posted this hilarious moment in their X (formerly Twitter) account and already has 222k views.
A squirrel is quite a reason to replay a point ?️ pic.twitter.com/eanseJ45cp
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2023
Several fans commented on the video and said:
Hahaha that’s hilarious. ?️ trying to get a better view I think !
— skrappyd0 (@skrappyd0) September 2, 2023
I’ll ace this escape ???
— ✨?☃???????☃?✨ (@flothilde) September 3, 2023
Who run the world? pic.twitter.com/t6kzX007TR
— Diane (@SigeTheSilent) September 3, 2023
During the past decade, this has already happened three times. The first time was when a squirrel interrupted the match between Sabine Lisicki vs Vera Dushevina at the 2013 US Open. And the second time was when a squirrel appeared during the during Jelena Jankovic/Aleksandra Krunic vs Casey Dellacqua/Yaroslava Shvedova match at the 2015 US Open. And now, in 2023, another squirrel interrupted a match and caught the attention of Tennis fans.
Could this be a sign that squirrels are fans of Tennis after all?