On Saturday night at the US Open, a squirrel disrupted a women’s doubles match, prompting a chair umpire to call for a replay of the point.
The strange incident occurred on Court 5 during a second-round doubles match between Greet Minnen and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva of Germany.
After losing the first set 7-6, Laura Siegmund and Vera Zvonareva were serving up a break in the second set, but they fell behind in the third game when a squirrel intercepted a rally.
The reason for this was that a ground squirrel got lost and started running on the court and around the opponent’s baseline area. The chair umpire quickly noticed this and temporarily stopped play. Initially having trouble finding the exit, it eventually succeeded in leaving through the seating area at the far end of the room.
A squirrel is quite a reason to replay a point 🐿️ pic.twitter.com/eanseJ45cp
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2023
