Why did protester set himself on fire during Laver Cup and what did he protest?

Why did protester set himself on fire during Laver Cup and what did he protest?

by Balasz Virag

Last updated

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman's second 2022 Laver Cup match was momentarily stopped by an intruder who managed to evade security and get onto the court.

With a t-shirt that gave a clear message, he was trying to set a part of the court on fire, but also put his arm on fire when doing so. The message stated: "End UK private jets" as the person protesting was trying to bring the climate issue to the spotlight during the 2022 Laver Cup, where some of the players also arrived on a private jet.

After the man put himself and court on fire, he was quickly escorted by security and his message wasn't delivered as he intended it to be. However, it's important to highlight that the issue he was trying to bring into the spotlight is important, but he chose a quite unlucky moment to do it as the 20-time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer was retiring just a few hours later. After the match, one of the players that was on the court during incident, said:

“He came out of nowhere and I had no idea what it was all about. I have never had an incident like that happen to me on court. I hope he is all right. It is correct that I did speak to the umpire and just wanted to make sure that the court surface was okay and safe. I wanted to proceed in that match without any minor changes to the court, and wanted to make sure it was playable," said Tsitsipas, who was worried about conditions of the court.

“Especially in that area [near the net]. It also got in my way in terms of my viewing experience of the court, the way I saw it later. There was a big mark over there and I wanted it be cleaned up in order for me to proceed the way I did before.”

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