Eco-fanatic sets himself on fire before Federer’s last ever game
An eco-activist invaded a tennis court and set his arm on fire – before Roger Federer played the final match of his career at the O2 Arena in London yesterday.
The 20-year-old, named only as Kai, did not appear to be seriously hurt by the attentionseeking stunt organised by a campaign group called End UK Private Jets.
Security personnel acted quickly to drag the protester off the court before play resumed after a check of the surface to see if it had been damaged during the incident.
The climate change activist interrupted the second set of a Laver Cup men’s singles match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego
Schwartzman. Federer, winner of 20 Grand Slam titles including eight Wimbledon crowns, was due to play doubles afterwards with long-time rival Rafael nadal.
After rushing on to the court, Kai quickly set his arm alight. He grimaced and yelled out in pain, but then put the flames out. He then sat on the court while security rushed over to grab him, eventually dragging him away.
A video posted on Twitter by End UK Private Jets immediately afterwards, shows Kai saying: ‘In a few hours, I’m going to go to the Laver Cup tennis tournament and set my arm on fire on the court.
‘People are gonna say stuff like, “This is horrible”, people in the stadium are going to be disturbed,
and anyone who hears about it is going to be really traumatised, especially if they’ve had experiences with things like self-harm.’
In the rant, he claimed the world is destined for ‘a path where hundreds of millions of people are going through unimaginable suffering’, aping the apocalyptic rhetoric of Extinction Rebellion guru Roger Hallam.
The protest was apparently designed to copy self-immolation protests seen in East Asia. Groups including Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain and now End UK Private Jets are, in reality, made up of the same small faction of protesters who think causing chaos under different names is more likely to capture the public’s attention.
Despite the disruption, Federer’s final match went ahead. The 41year-old announced his retirement last week. nadal, 36, said it had been ‘an honour and privilege’ to share the same court.