A horrifying scene kicked off on Friday when a man set his arm on fire on the court during a tennis tournament in London to protest the use of private jets in Britain.
Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece was playing Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in a Laver Cup match at the O2 Arena when the stormed the court while wearing a T-shirt that read “End UK Private Jets.”
He quickly put the flames out on his arm before security rushed onto the court to extinguish the remaining fire and drag the man out.
The man involved belongs to a group that claims “carbon emissions in 2022 are genocide,” Reuters reported.
The protester “has been arrested and the situation is being handled by the police,” Laver Cup organizers said in a statement.
“It came out of nowhere. I have no idea what this is all about. I never had an incident like this happen on court. I hope he is all right,” Tsitsipas said of the incident.
“I wanted to proceed the match without having any minor changes to the court and to make sure it was playable, especially that area. It also got in my way of viewing experience, the way I saw the court later. There was a big mark over there and I just wanted to get it cleared up.”
The incident did not derail his game and he overcame Schwartzman for 6-2, 6-1 victory for Team Europe over Team World.
