By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) -A protester interrupted the French Open men’s semi-final between Marin Cilic of Croatia and Norwegian Casper Ruud for 15 minutes on Friday when she jumped onto Court Philippe Chatrier and tied herself to the net.
The woman, wearing a t-shirt that read ‘we have 1028 days left’ tied herself to the edge of the net with a string around her neck.
It was unclear what the message, written on both sides of her white t-shirt, was meant to signify.
The players were quickly ushered off the court and play was interrupted with Ruud leading 3-6 6-4 4-1, as security guards took up positions and the protester was removed.
Play resumed after 15 minutes.
This is not the first time play has been interrupted at the French Open. During the 2009 men’s final a spectator jumped on to the court from the stands and tried to put a hat on Roger Federer’s head, while in the 2013 showpiece between Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, a masked protester ran around the court waving a flare.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, Additional reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
