Watch moment Wimbledon umpire is almost sent flying in bumpy ride off court as rain hits with tennis fans in hysterics

UMPIRE Renaud Lichtenstein was given a bumpy ride as he was taken off No3 Court during a rain delay earlier today.

The first rain delay of this year’s Wimbledon Championships occurred at 12:11pm this afternoon.

Reuters

Lichtenstein was taking charge of Hubert Hurkacz’s clash with Radu Albot on No3 Court[/caption]

EPA

The covers were on across the grounds for the first this year[/caption]

Over on No3 Court, Roger Federer‘s final SW19 conqueror Hubert Hurkacz was in action against qualifier Radu Albot.

When a rain delay occurs at Wimbledon, the umpire’s chair is quickly wheeled off with the official still in it, in order to allow the covers to be brought on.

In their haste to do their job as efficiently as possible on No3 Court, the grounds team gave Lichtenstein a bumpy ride.

As his chair was pushed off court, the Frenchman was jolted in his seat, even putting his hands out for balance.

Seeing a clip of the incident, one fan joked: “This is what watching your fav play a five setter R2 feels like.”

While a second commented: “Renaud going through a crash course 5 setter.”

Another quipped: “‘This is nothing. I have umpired Daniil Medvedev’s matches at Indian Wells and in France’.”

The match was suspended with seventh seed Hurkacz having surprisingly dropped the first set 7-5 to Albot, who stands eight inches shorter than him.

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Lichtenstein is among tennis‘ most high-profile umpires.

He recently took charge of the Roland Garros final, which saw Carlos Alcaraz defeat Alexander Zverev in five sets.

Play resumed on the outside courts around an hour after the covers were initially thrown on.

Lichtenstein, showing no ill effects at all, was back in the chair as Hurkacz and Albot resumed their tussle.