Spider Cam crashes into umpire’s chair after Ash Barty victory

A chair umpire at the Australian Open can consider herself lucky she wasn’t seriously injured after a camera mishap on Rod Laver Arena. WATCH

Officials remove part of the umpire’s canopy shade after it was sent flying by spider-cam.

A chair umpire at the Australian Open can consider herself lucky she wasn’t seriously injured after a camera mishap on Rod Laver Arena.

‘Spider cam’, which flies over and around the court to offer television broadcasters a unique view, crashed into chair umpire Alison Hughes’ sun shield after Ash Barty’s epic win over Maria Sharapova.

The camera hit the sun shield with such force it completely knocked the shield out of place and sent it crashing down on to the court.

Camera driver got his license on a weet-bix packet? 🤔 🤷🏽‍♂️ #ausopen @AusOpen2019 @tennis pic.twitter.com/4hA2LyXw4g

— Ant Wilson (@bullant_wilson) January 20, 2019

Hughes, who was sitting in the chair, appeared shaken and a ball kid, who was stationed next nearby, was also lucky not to be injured.

SHARAPOVA: ‘BRILLIANT’ BARTY CAN GO ALL THE WAY

STUNNING UPSET: WORLD NO.2 KNOCKED OUT OF OPEN

LOUD: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PLAN TO SILENCE SHRIEKERS?

😳 Omg. The overhead camera nearly took out the umpire after Barty v Sharapova #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/pAcurnfOLJ

— katie (@_KT23) January 20, 2019

The camera was left wobbling in the air for several seconds and at one stage looked as it would tumble off its cables and come crashing down on to the court before it stabilised.

It was later lowered to the court where a technician assessed it for any damage.

“Spider Cam has been shut down while the incident is thoroughly investigated,” Tennis Australia said in a statement.

“The official’s welfare was our first priority. She was startled by the incident and has been seen by the medical team.

“She did not require treatment and will continue working at the event as scheduled.”

Chair umpire Alison Hughes assesses the damage after a narrow Spider-Cam miss.

Spider-Cam is inspected after the incident. Picture: Twitter

Former ASADA chief and long-time chair umpire Richard Ings fumed following the bizarre incident.

‏”One cannot express how serious this incident is,” Ings tweeted.

“The workplace should be safe.

“The camera at that speed could literally have killed the chair umpire.

“Where was the risk management plan to ensure the risk of injury from this spider cam was mitigated?

FED UP

Anyone know a wizard?

Because we need a spell.

Now, we don’t want to go too hard on the security guard that stopped Roger Federer from entering the men’s locker room without an accreditation... but the world has gone mad.

Yes, the guard was doing his job, and should be commended for that, but it just goes to show the society we live in that grand slam record-breaker Federer, a six-time Australian Open champion, would be barred entry, if only for a few seconds, from anywhere at Melbourne Park.

If nothing else, television sports network, Eurosport UK, got bang for buck with 3.28 million (and counting) people watching the 30-second clip of Federer and the doorman on Twitter.

BOLT LOSING PEROXIDE FRO?

We know athletes like to look good for primetime appearances, often rushing to the barber shop on game days, but Aussie wildcard Alex Bolt went above and beyond for his Rod Laver Arena debut.

While Bolt stopped short of confirming claims he shaved his legs for the third-round clash against Alexander Zverev, the Murray Bridge product revealed he will “probably” get rid of his Odell Beckham-style peroxide fro.

“No, probably get rid of it now that I’ve lost,” Bolt said.

“Probably, yeah, get rid of it.”

TIGERS JOIN BARTY PARTY

Tiger tragic Ashleigh Barty will get a kick out of Richmond’s social media feeds with premiership captain Trent Cotchin posting a selfie of support.

Trent Cotchin was very happy about Ash Barty’s win.

The Tigers posted the selfie in the bus, possibly en route to Melbourne Airport ahead of the club’s week-long summer training camp in Gold Coast.

Cotchin most likely would have been sitting in Barty’s entourage had it not been for the trip.

TENNIS SOAP OPERA

It goes against Score policy to promote garbage day-time TV soaps but one punter’s work had to be commended.

Now, we’re not sure if @crouch_kyle is responsible for the fancy bit of edited artwork, which did the rounds yesterday, but Thanasi Kokkinakis, one of seven Australians in The Young and the Restless ‘Davis Cup’ edition, certainly appreciated the meme.

Usual suspects Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic appeared on the makeshift promotional poster, along with Alex de Minaur, Alex Popyrin and Alex Bolt.

“Eyyy this kinda funny tho” Kokkinakis posted.

HAHA! Who made this? @NickKyrgios @TKokkinakis pic.twitter.com/MBUW48icZz

— KYLE CROUCH (@crouch_kyle) January 19, 2019

GRAND

Did he beg, borrow or steal? Who knows. All that matters is comedian Dave Hughes snuck into Rod Laver Arena to watch Ash Barty maul Maria Sharapova using a “temporary access” media pass. Keen to do the right thing, Hughesy broke the news that “Sharapova is still very loud”.

SLAM

We see successful big bets and wonder why we didn’t think of that. Not on Sunday, though, as one TAB punter coughed up $59,890 on Angelique Kerber to defeat little-known American Danielle Collins. Ouch!

THE WHISPER

Is Bernard Tomic about to get his Davis Cup selection wish?