Two players received an unexpected dousing at Wimbledon on Friday when a sprinkler went off in the middle of a mixed doubles match.
Artem Sitak and Laura Siegemund were sitting on their chairs at a change of ends during their first-round clash with Britain's Ken Skupski and Croatian Darija Jurak on Court 15 when the sprinkler behind the umpire's chair suddenly burst into life.
When you try your hardest not to laugh...
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) July 5, 2019
(wait till the end!)pic.twitter.com/C6jCuUnzKV
Sack the man who took his foot off the sprinkler! pic.twitter.com/T19644DXRq
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) July 5, 2019
German Siegemund immediately leapt off her chair and moved her bag out of the jet of water, while her partner Sitak, from New Zealand, initially did not realise what was happening before receiving a sudden drenching.
The amount of water on the court meant the match could not be completed there and instead had to be moved to neighbouring Court 16, where Siegemund and Sitak put the unusual event behind them to secure a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory.
Skupski told Press Association Sport: "The sprinkler head behind the umpire's chair just popped up. You hear it, it's an unusual sound, and then 100 gallons of water just started nailing them.
"Fortunately the water was spraying on the other side. I've seen clips on YouTube of it happening at tournaments but not at Wimbledon, so that was unexpected.
"And to move courts and start straight away in a bit of a different environment, that was a bit unusual, but at least we might make it onto the TV tonight."
