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，溫布爾登中央球場吸引了松鼠、鴿子和老鼠等一群群動物的光臨，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打算在觀眾席和賽場中間筑一道圍欄。

動物入侵的問題在1999年達到極致。在兩名德國選手博里斯·貝克爾和尼古拉斯·基弗的比賽中，鴿子兩次從正面看臺的頂棚俯沖下來"轟炸"球場。

所以全英俱樂部欣然接受了一位專業馴鷹者的幫助，他訓練出來的獵鷹“芬尼根”專門負責溫網期間的場地巡邏，成為一個十分有效的威懾。

熟知溫網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中央球場“最有趣的入侵史”。

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

帕姆·史萊弗曾有過一次在比賽中與一大群蜜蜂斗爭的經歷。其中一只蜜蜂在她的對手凱西·里納爾蒂的胳膊上蜇了一下，史萊弗十分有風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，被兩只突然入侵的麻雀打斷。

但最為怪異的“入侵”還是來自人類自身。

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球場，在場內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，一名女裸奔者突現賽場，這是溫網“入侵史”上首位裸奔者。

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

當這位男子裸著身體側手翻出現在莎拉波娃面前時，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，迅速送往了場外。

莎拉波娃說：“我不想去注意所有的細節。”

但當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，她回答說：“或許下次我會看一眼。”  

（來源：英語點津 姍姍編輯）