ESPN.com - Wimbledon 2002 - Streaker takes advantage of rain delay
espn.com Wimbledon 2002 Wimbledon 2002
  S C H E D U L E
  R E S U L T S
  S E E D S
  H I S T O R Y
  B R A C K E T
  E S P N  T E N N I S









Thursday, July 17
Streaker takes advantage of rain delay

WIMBLEDON, England -- He danced and pranced on Centre Court, somersaulted over the net and bowed to the crowd.

No, not men's champion Lleyton Hewitt.

The streaker.

For the second time in six years, the men's final at Wimbledon was interrupted by a naked prankster cavorting on Centre Court.

In 1996, a young woman wearing only a tiny apron dashed across the court just before the match between Richard Krajicek and MaliVai Washington.

On Sunday, it was a 37-year-old man -- a self-described "serial streaker'' -- who enlivened the proceedings during a rain break in Hewitt's three-set victory over David Nalbandian.

Some might say it was the most entertaining part of a one-sided match.

With Hewitt leading 6-1, 1-0, the man jumped onto the court, shed all of his clothes, kicked off his shoes and did a little dance at the net. As spectators laughed and cheered, he did a pirouette, bowed, flipped over the net and flexed his muscles.

It took about two minutes before security officials reacted. The man hopped over the net to evade two male guards, before he was finally caught from behind by a female guard and escorted away with a red sheet around him.

Hewitt and Nalbandian had just returned after a 15-minute rain delay and were on the side of the court about to resume the match when the streaker appeared.

"It was terrible,'' Nalbandian said. "Nobody took him. He was five minutes out there.''

Tournament referee Alan Mills, who usually spends most of his time studying the rain clouds over Wimbledon, helped detain the man.

"I have watched many streakers before but I have never chased one,'' he said.

Some of the incident was shown live on BBC-TV, which screened full-frontal footage of the man before cutting away. NBC showed most of the episode to its U.S. audience but with strategically placed blurring.

Police identified the man as Mark Roberts, of Liverpool. Roberts also streaked during a doubles match involving Anna Kournikova on Court 14 two years ago.

Roberts, who boasts of 150 streaking "performances'' during an eight-year career, was taken to Wimbledon police station for questioning.

In May, Roberts ran onto the field during the Champions League soccer final between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow, Scotland.

Roberts has been banned from entering soccer stadiums in England after streaking during last year's FA Cup final at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. He was also banned from traveling to last month's World Cup.

Sunday's incident was the second Centre Court security breach this year. During the first week, two men wearing white tennis clothes and carrying rackets eluded security and hit a ball back and forth for about 20 seconds. They walked off and left the complex without being apprehended.

The All England Club said in a statement that it was happy with security.

"Security had been reviewed, but it is always a tough compromise between containment and the great views and closeness to the court that spectators enjoy at Wimbledon,'' All England Club spokesman Johnny Perkins said.

"In this instance, it was quickly apparent there was no threat, but it would be a great shame if we have to put more permanent measures in place to prevent people from gaining access to the court.''

Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories