Wimbledon: Three arrested for interrupting matches by throwing confetti on court

Grigor Dimitrov was caught off guard while trying to serveat Wimbledon when two environmental activists jumped out of the stands at Court 18 to scatter orange confetti and puzzle pieces on the grass His initial instinct Get involved and try to stop them But then I also realised the threetime Grand Slam semifinalist said on Wednesday thats not my place to do thatInstead security guards hauled away the woman and man wearing Tshirts from Just Stop Oil an organization that wants the British government to stop new oil gas and coal projects and the two were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage according to the All England ClubThe next contest on that same court best known as the site of John Isners 2010 victory over Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history was also interrupted by another man from that same environmental group He was corralled by two security guards and was arrested too the club saidObviously its not pleasant said Dimitrov a 32yearold from Bulgaria who is seeded 21st in the mens bracket and ended up beating Japanese qualifier Sho Shimabukuro 61 62 61In the end of the day there is not much you can do I think everyone in a way did their part as quick as possibleAlso Read Wimbledon 2023 Novak Djokovic downs Jordan Thompson for 350th Grand Slam winThe second match that was affected was British wildcard entry Katie Boulters 764 62 win against Daria Saville of Australia Boulter and Saville helped clean up the debris before their match resumedAs it happened a rain delay came as the court was cleared after the interruption of Dimitrovs matchHe said he did not feel threatened by what happenedBut Dimitrov did acknowledge there is a sense of vulnerability for playersYoure just out there in a way Dimitrov saidAnd also The security are checking the bags when people are entering the grounds but you just never know what the person might doThe All England Club coordinated with London police and other agencies to increase security for this years tournament in part as a result of protests at other major sports venues in Britain this yearBased on what has happened at other sporting events and on the advice from our key partners we have reviewed our security plans which have now been uplifted for The Championships accordingly All England Club operations director Michelle Dite said last weekWe have plans in place to mitigate the risks working in partnership with specialist agencies and the Metropolitan Police and should an incident occur the appropriate specialist teams will respond Dite saidHer comments came a day after people representing Just Stop Oil briefly disrupted play about five minutes after the start of a cricket match between England and Australia in London Players from both teams intervened when the protesters attempted to spread orange powder on the fieldEarlier in June protesters held up the England cricket team bus briefly during the test against Ireland in London Activists also have targeted Premier League soccer matches the Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the world snooker championship in Sheffield this yearI guess in some ways it would be a bit of a distraction if it was going on during the match but I also understand the importance too sometimes of people being able to protest for things that matter for them And especially anything related to the climate said American Danielle Collins who won her firstround match at Court 17 on WednesdayThis is a real thing that were dealing with and I feel like not enough people are aware of those issues and have enough education around itWith AP inputs