Wimbledon considers fencing
Wimbledon considers fencing
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Wednesday, 05, Jul 2006 10:34
Officials from the All England Club have admitted they are considering courtside fencing to prevent people getting onto the courts at Wimbledon.
Two matches in the last two days have been momentarily halted by spectators getting onto the court, evading measures already in place to prevent such acts.
Now the All England Club is considering how invasions can be stopped, and fencing is reportedly one idea being mooted.
"Putting fences up is not something we want to see but it is an option," a spokesperson said.
"It will be a shame if the antics of a few selfish idiots were to ruin it for everyone in the future and it meant we have to put more permanent measures in place to prevent people gaining access to the court."
Yesterday's match between women's number four seed Maria Sharapova and Russian compatriot Elena Dementieva was disturbed when a streaker made it onto Centre Court.
Then today, defending men's champion Roger Federer saw his match with Croatian Mario Antic disrupted when two fathers' rights campaigners got onto Centre Court.
The All England Club said it didn't want to affect the atmosphere at Wimbledon by implementing the wrong security changes and it played down the significance of the breaches of the last two days.
"It is a tough compromise between containment and allowing the great views and closeness to the action that spectators have traditionally enjoyed.
"In this case, it was quickly apparent that the individuals posed no threat to the players or the public, and the incident was dealt with summarily and swiftly."
Security measures already in place include body and bag searches and metal detectors.