Reporter jumps in bushes to escape French Open chaos
Sports broadcaster Catherine Whitaker had to jump in the bushes in order to avoid getting hurt by a massive crowd at French Open.
The match between Dimitrov and Wawrinka - ended 3-0 for the Swiss -, provoked chaos outside Court No.1 after the match was moved from Suzanne Lenglen. People were trying to enter the court to see the match between Dimitrov and Wawrinka, but the arena was already full. Matt Roberts, part of Catherine’s team, described the situation on The Tennis Podcast: “Put simply, there were too many people in a small space and not only that. This was people who had tickets for Wawrinka vs Dimitrov, and they wanted to see that match, but they couldn't because court 1 was already full. Therefore they were quite angry and chanting, and booing, and acting kind of irrationally and creating a situation. It was a little bit dangerous to be honest because there were just too many people and Catherine was caught up right in the middle of it, and I was two or three minutes behind so I hadn't made quite as much progress into the crowd, so I was able to hang back. It was a distressing situation for anyone.”
Catherine’s traumatic experience got her pretty “shaken up” as she had to make her escape through some bushes.
Vry difficult to capture the panic of what happened outside court one, but this video goes some way. Huge queues outside & nowhere for people to go, resulting in a crush. Many people in genuine distress & children falling to the floor, others jumping into the bushes to escape. pic.twitter.com/AyjUxlQbWe
— Catherine Whitaker (@CWhitakerSport) May 31, 2019
Despite the fact she got out unharmed, the sports broadcaster was clearly unhappy of the situation that occurred and felt offended that the tournament’s administration didn’t react in an appropriate manner: “It was a distressing experience. I'm fine. Yeah, it was upsetting and I'm slightly further upset that I seemingly saw no reaction from the French Tennis Federation, from Guy Forget about the situation out there because it was really, really serious and they are very lucky if no one was injured. A lot of people were distressed. Bottom line, no one was hurt and that's a relief.”
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2KkCFbe
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