Protester sets fire to his arm during Laver Cup opening session

A protester set fire to his arm during a dramatic incident which left Stefanos Tsitsipas stunned and disrupted the opening session of this year’s Laver Cup.

The protest occurred during the second match of the Ryder Cup-style team competition at the O2 Arena in London, where Team Europe’s Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman of Team World were doing battle in a singles tie. After Tsitsipas had won the first set 6-2, the spectator ran on to the court during the changeover and set his arm ablaze before security staff were able to put the fire out with the protester ushered away.

It failed to knock Tsitsipas off his stride with the second set clinched quickly to beat Schwartzman 6-2, 6-1 and put Team Europe 2-0 up at the end of the afternoon session but the Greek player admitted it left him and everyone inside the O2 shocked.

“It came out of nowhere. I have no idea what this is all about. I never had an incident like this happen on court. I hope he is all right,” said Tsitsipas, having spoken to the umpire before his singles clash resumed. “I wanted to proceed the match without having any minor changes to the court and to make sure it was playable, especially that area. It also got in my way of viewing experience, the way I saw the court later. There was a big mark over there and I just wanted to get it cleared up.”

While focus at the O2 turned to the evening action, where Roger Federer will bring his professional career to an end with a doubles contest alongside old sparring partner Rafael Nadal, a sense of shock remained. The protestor had been wearing a T-shirt which read ‘End UK Private Jets’ before he was taken away from the court.

US Open runner-up Casper Ruud had got Team Europe off the mark earlier in the day but only