Organisers of the ATP 500 tournament in Halle have issued a statement after a spectator went to hospital after an advertising board fell on their head in the middle of a match. Play was suspended in the first set of Alexander Zverev’s clash with Marcos Giron due to a medical emergency.
It quickly emerged that a piece of signage inside the OWL Arena became loose and landed on the fan in question, a 62-year-old woman. The tournament director has now said there has “never been anything like this” in the event’s history.
Giron was serving to stay in the opening set at 2-5 when members of the crowd caught the attention of match officials as a part of the advertising board dropped into the stands below.
Play was paused so the fan could receive medical attention. Zverev went on to win 6-2 6-1 and it later emerged that the spectator was taken to hospital.
Organisers of the Halle event, known as the Terra Wortmann Open have now released a statement expressing their regret and explaining how it happened.
It read: “A tennis spectator at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN had a stroke of luck during Alexander Zverev’s singles match.
“At 5:2 in the first set, an advertising banner came loose from the upper tier and hit the 62-year-old woman from Halle, who was sitting in the lower tier.
“Fortunately, she did not suffer any major injuries and was able to leave the stadium on her own after the shock with an ice pack in her neck handed to her by Alexander Zverev. She was netherleless taken to hospital in Halle for safety reasons.
“‘There has never been anything like this in our 32-year tournament history. We deeply regret the incident,’ said tournament director Ralf Weber, who personally enquired about the spectator’s condition at the medical centre and promised her a season ticket for next year as compensation.
“Dr Udo Kleine and Uwe Greipel-Dominik, as event managers, checked the neighbouring boards immediately after the incident and finally gave the go-ahead for the game to continue: ‘We suspect that the drumming against the boards caused screws to come loose. This must not happen again and we apologise. We will also check the other boards and fixings immediately after the Zverev match’.”
Play continued on the OWL Arena as normal following the incident. After Zverev beat Giron, Daniil Medvedev took out Quentin Halys on the same court before Alex Michelsen upset Stefanos Tsitsipas to round out play for the day.