Wimbledon 2023: Daria Saville out of tournament after Just Stop Oil protester disrupts game against Katie Boulter

Aussie Daria Saville lost to Britain’s Katie Boulter after the Just Stop Oil protester threw orange paper and jigsaw pieces onto the court in the middle of the first set tie-break | WATCH

Daria Saville had to deal with such a bizarre series of circumstances in her first round match at Wimbledon, which she lost in straight sets, that the Australian says the match will stick in her mind for some time.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, had watched the beginning of the match, situated on court 18 on Tuesday from the back of the stand.

Then when the game resumed on Wednesday afternoon, Saville and her opponent, Katie Boulter had to deal with a protester running onto the court and throwing orange paper and large jigsaw pieces in the middle of the first set tie-break.

Daria Saville serves the ball to Britain's Katie Boulter during their first round match. Picture: AFP.

Two protesters had performed the same stunt in the previous match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro raising issues about why security on the court – which is the easiest accessible to spectators – had not been intensified.

Saville said the fact the protester, who was not young, was carried off by two security staff in suit and tie, and then faced medical treatment on the side of the court which “really rattled me’’. She lost the next five points to lose the first set.

Spectators sitting near to the protester said he had appeared agitated and had been sitting on the court side seats since the morning. The three eco-zealots had been acting for the same group which has disrupted other major sporting events in Britain, including on the first day of the Ashes when Jonny Bairstow carried one of them to the boundary.

Saville said the players had not been given any instructions about what to do if play was interrupted, but thankfully she didn’t feel in danger as she was on the other side of the court from where the man ran on.

But she said the protest could have been dangerous if bracelet beads had been sprayed around on the court. Both Saville and Boulter went down on hands and knees helping the ball boys clear up the mess.

“These were the toughest circumstances I have had to deal with, I thought I would help pick up the pieces: it was nice to focus on picking up the pieces rather than stewing on ‘what I am going to play next?’ Or “how to play the next point’,’’ she said.

When the game restarted after eight minutes Saville quickly lost nine points and the game quickly switched in favour of Boulter. Saville lost her rhythm, her concentration and then the match, 7-6, 6-2.

When asked if the series of events was upsetting, she replied: “It was, oh my god, why on my court? I am the worst being able to focus.”

Boulter, who is the girlfriend of Australia’s main men’s hope Alex de Minaur and who will play mixed doubles with him later at Wimbledon, said: “I didn’t really know what to do, it’s not something I’ve been through before.”

Katie Boulter and Daria Saville helps the clear up as another Just Stop Oil protester targets Court 18#WIMBLEDONpic.twitter.com/0Unv2lEJZJ

— Katie Smith (@K_CroydenSmith) July 5, 2023

Saville said she had wished the Princess of Wales had returned to watch the completion of the match because Boulter appeared to play tighter when under the gaze of a royal.

However the All England Club is probably relieved that there were no celebrities in the stand when the protests occurred and that nothing happened when Catherine had been in attendance.

However Saville revealed that the biggest distraction was not the protest but the strange behaviour of four men positioned near to where she had left her towel on the court. She complained to the umpire that the men kept making farting noises.

Saville said after the match: “There were four guys at the back making farting noises that was really distracting. Farting noises, quietly going pfft. It really annoyed me, and I have ADHD, so I was like, it drove me nuts.”

Because the noises were “subtle”, she said the umpire could take no action.

“I will not remember the tennis part of it, I will remember the stuff around it,’’ she said of the match, only one of a handful she has played since tearing her ACL last September.