ANDY MURRAY was forced to HALT his match against Taylor Fritz after protestors threw giant balls onto the court.
The tennis aces were facing off in the last 16 of the Citi Washington Open.
Andy Murray’s serve was interrupted when giant tennis balls were thrown onto the court
Murray was already frustrated as he was losing to Taylor Fritz
But during the first set, with the score 1-3, the match had to be paused for five minutes.
The disruption was caused when protestors threw oversized balls onto the court while Murray was preparing to serve.
While other protestors displayed a banner in the stands.
They were then thrown out of the arena by police and the match was able to restart.
Murray and Fritz went to their seats while the protestors were removed from the arena.
The Brit – currently ranked No.44 in the world – had already been frustrated in the match as he smashed his racket into the floor after a tough start against the American.
Fans that saw the moment reacted to the protest on social media.
One tweeted: “The highlight of the first set of this Andy Murray vs Taylor Fritz match so far was when a protester threw a big yellow tennis ball onto the court to disrupt play, and a commentator goes ‘perhaps they’re just trying to help Murray see the ball a bit better’.”
A second joked: “It takes some balls to do that.”
A third said: “Some kind of protest happening at the Murray Match, chanting and throwing oversized balls onto the court. Andy Murray could do without this!”
A fourth fumed: “WTF is happening?”
Murray would not have been happy with the interruption as he could find himself playing twice in one day should he beat Fritz.
His clash with the world No.9 was initially postponed from Thursday to today.
Murray got into the last 16 by beating Brandon Nakashima on straight sets.
It is not the first time climate protestors have targeted tennis matches this year.
During Wimbledon, there were multiple delays caused to games due to interruptions.
