A tennis spectator at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN had a stroke of luck during Alexander Zverev's singles match. At 5:2 in the first set, an advertising banner came loose from the upper tier and hit the 62-year-old woman from Halle, who was sitting in the lower tier. Fortunately, she did not suffer any major injuries and was able to leave the stadium on her own after the shock with an ice pack in her neck handed to her by Alexander Zverev. She was nevertheless taken to hospital in Halle for safety reasons.
"There has never been anything like this in our 32-year tournament history. We deeply regret the incident," said tournament director Ralf Weber, who personally enquired about the spectator's condition at the medical centre and promised her a season ticket for next year as a small gesture of compensation.
Dr Udo Kleine and Uwe Greipel-Dominik, as event managers, checked the neighbouring boards immediately after the incident and finally gave the go-ahead for the game to continue: "We suspect that the drumming against the boards caused screws to come loose. This must not happen and we apologise. We will also check all the other boards and their fixings immediately after the Zverev match.
