French Open: Ill Spectator Delays Nadal-Schwartzman Quarter-Final

World No.1, Rafael Nadal was up against Argentinian Diego Schwartzman in the quarter-final match at the 2018 French Open. Schwartzman was a set up, having taken the first one at 6-4. In the second set, he was a break up.

The umpire, thinking it was a normal ruckus, spoke into his mic to quieten the crowd but the situation was much more serious than that. Schwartzman was ready to serve again when he looked up to the stands and realised what was happening.

He immediately called for the doctor, shouting at the top of his voice and pointed him in the direction of the spectator. Realising the gravity of the situation, the match official called for medical attention on his walkie-talkie as the rest of the crowd watched on, trying to make sense of the situation.

Both players were visibly worried as they walked towards the net and anxiously awaited some kind of news on the spectator, even refusing instructions to sit down and wait till the situation was taken care of.

The Eurosport commentators, also caught by surprise were saying, “You can’t exactly see what happened but it looks like someone might be ill. Schwartzman has definitely seen it. Let’s hope whoever it is is okay.”

“The tournament doctor has gone to the place where whoever it is in trouble. It looks like we are going to have a delay here while the right attention is given to whoever it is.”

“They are two guys here, Schwartzman and Nadal. It is difficult to talk tennis at a time like this. It’s serious. Nadal seems way more concerned about the spectator than the situation on court.”

Read: 13 Tennis Players caught in Match Fixing

The Quarterfinal match at the French Open finally resumed when the spectator recovered enough to get up and walk away to get further medical assistance and it drew a huge applause from the rest of the crowd and Schwartzman at the French Open match.