Bizarre reason why all US Open matches were SUSPENDED with players stranded on courts
The US Open ground to a halt on Monday – with all matches suspended for several minutes – after the hawkeye system was disrupted by a fire alarm.
Players including Caroline Wozniacki and Daniil Medvedev were briefly left stranded on court during their last-16 matches at Flushing Meadows.
It soon emerged that a fire alarm had gone off in the broadcast building, which also houses the team responsible for electronic line calling at the US Open. Unlike at Wimbledon, there are no human line judges on any of the courts in New York.
Those inside the building were evacuated, meaning play had to be paused for six minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium and elsewhere.
‘Following the determination that this was only an alarm, play was resumed. In total, play was halted for six minutes,’ a statement from tournament organizers explained.
The US Open ground to a halt after the hawkeye system was disrupted by a fire alarm
Caroline Wozniacki (L) was among those briefly left stranded on court during their match
Supporters in New York were initially alerted only to technical issues across the courts by the match umpires, who also had to explain the bizarre situation to the players.
The delay occurred during Medvedev’s fourth-round clash with Nuno Borges on Arthur Ashe but it did not prevent the Russian from cruising into the quarter finals with a 6-0 6-1 6-3 win.
Wozniacki, meanwhile, was midway through her match against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No 22 seed, on Louis Armstrong.
Earlier in New York, British No 1 Jack Draper annihilated Tomas Machac to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
At just 22, Draper is the first British man to make the last eight of the US Open since Andy Murray in 2016. The last of either gender to do so was Emma Raducanu in 2021, when she won the title.