A streaker in Wimbledon Centre Court圖片

Squirrels, pigeons and mice -- Wimbledon's Centre Court has attracted a menagerie of animals over the years who brought many a tense match to a halt with their unwelcome intrusions.

Nowadays, though, it isstreakerswho are the bigger menace, prompting the tournament authorities last year to contemplate putting up a fence between spectators and players.

The problem of animal intruderscame to a headin 1999 when German players Boris Becker and Nicolas Kiefer were twice dive-bombed from the grandstand roof by pigeons.

So the All England Club gratefully accepted the services of a full-time falconer to patrol the courts with a swooping bird of prey, named Finnegan, acting as a highly effective deterrent.

Wimbledon librarian Alan Little, who boasts an encyclopaedic knowledge of tournament history, has compiled for his annual Wimbledon compendium a history of the most intriguing Centre Court invasions.

Back in 1949, the Centre Court ball boys had to chase a squirrel off the hallowed turf while the players sat down to await the all-clear.

Pam Shriver once had to contend with a swarm of bees. One stung her opponent, Kathy Rinaldi, on the arm and Shriver gallantly went over to remove the sting.

John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg had theirrazor-sharpconcentration disturbed in the 1989 semi-final by two sparrows swooping in low.

But the humans win the top prizes for the most eccentric interruptions.

In the 1957 gentleman's final, a Mrs. Helen Jarvis invaded the court, shouting and waving a banner calling for a new world banking system.

A female streaker first took to the court in the 1996 men's final.

Last year, Maria Sharapova was startled by a streaker who leapt on to Centre Court during her quarter-final against Elena Dementieva.

She averted her gaze as he cart-wheeled naked in front of her before being bundled off court by security guards who wrapped him in a red blanket.

"I didn't want to look at all the details," Sharapova said.

But when told that some women spectators had been impressed by his physique, she replied: "Maybe next time I'll take a look."



(ANI)

多年來(lái)，溫布爾登中央球場(chǎng)吸引了松鼠、鴿子和老鼠等一群群動(dòng)物的光臨，這些“不速之客”們不受歡迎的入侵曾使很多緊張的比賽被迫中斷。

然而，如今裸奔者卻成了更大的威脅，去年甚至使得比賽組委會(huì)打算在觀眾席和賽場(chǎng)中間筑一道圍欄。

動(dòng)物入侵的問題在1999年達(dá)到極致。在兩名德國(guó)選手博里斯·貝克爾和尼古拉斯·基弗的比賽中，鴿子兩次從正面看臺(tái)的頂棚俯沖下來(lái)"轟炸"球場(chǎng)。

所以全英俱樂部欣然接受了一位專業(yè)馴鷹者的幫助，他訓(xùn)練出來(lái)的獵鷹“芬尼根”專門負(fù)責(zé)溫網(wǎng)期間的場(chǎng)地巡邏，成為一個(gè)十分有效的威懾。

熟知溫網(wǎng)歷史的溫布爾登圖書管理員阿蘭·里特專為他的溫布爾登年鑒編撰了溫網(wǎng)中央球場(chǎng)“最有趣的入侵史”。

1949年，中央球場(chǎng)的球童們不得不將一只松鼠逐出賽場(chǎng)，而選手們只好坐等"警報(bào)解除"。

帕姆·史萊弗曾有過一次在比賽中與一大群蜜蜂斗爭(zhēng)的經(jīng)歷。其中一只蜜蜂在她的對(duì)手凱西·里納爾蒂的胳膊上蜇了一下，史萊弗十分有風(fēng)度的走了過去為凱西拔掉了刺。

1989年，約翰·麥肯羅和史蒂芬·埃德博格正全神貫注的打半決賽時(shí)，被兩只突然入侵的麻雀打斷。

但最為怪異的“入侵”還是來(lái)自人類自身。

在1957年的男單決賽中，一位名叫海倫·賈維斯的女士突然闖進(jìn)球場(chǎng)，在場(chǎng)內(nèi)為呼吁建立新的世界銀行體系搖旗吶喊。

在1996年的男子決賽中，一名女裸奔者突現(xiàn)賽場(chǎng)，這是溫網(wǎng)“入侵史”上首位裸奔者。

去年，莎拉波娃在與對(duì)手艾麗娜·戴蒙蒂娃進(jìn)行四分之一賽時(shí)，被一位躍入中央球場(chǎng)的裸奔者嚇了一大跳。

當(dāng)這位男子裸著身體側(cè)手翻出現(xiàn)在莎拉波娃面前時(shí)，莎娃避開了自己的目光。之后，這名裸奔者被保安用一只紅毯子包裹起來(lái)，迅速送往了場(chǎng)外。

莎拉波娃說：“我不想去注意所有的細(xì)節(jié)。”

但當(dāng)她被告知這名裸奔男子的體型給一些女觀眾留下了深刻的印象時(shí)，她回答說：“或許下次我會(huì)看一眼。”  

（來(lái)源：英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 姍姍編輯）