WIMBLEDON pulled a seemingly harmless item from the shops on Wednesday.
The All England Club was hit by two separate Just Stop Oil protests on Court 18 during matches.
Katie Boulter helped pick up the pieces after the protest during her match
On both occasions, eco-yobs ran on to the hallowed turf to cause disruption.
They did so by depositing a box-load of orange confetti and revealing their Just Stop Oil t-shirts.
And closer inspection revealed the three individuals had used Wimbledon Centre Court jigsaw boxes to conceal the confetti – and also dropped the hundreds of jigsaw pieces on the court.
Katie Boulter and her first-round opponent Daria Saville got down on their haunches to help clear the debris, as their match was halted at 4-2 in the first-set tie-break.
But soon afterwards, the on-site shops had removed the £221,000-piece Centre Court jigsaws from the shelves in a hasty attempt to prevent further sales to the activists.
Boulter said: “I think I heard the crowd before I saw anything. Then I realised what it was because I saw it in the previous match.
“It was obviously a little bit of a shock to the system.
“I think we (she and Saville) both handled it really well. It’s a really unfortunate situation for everyone.”
The British tennis No1 was then praised online for her no-nonsense reaction to the “eco idiot’s” behaviour.
One person said: “Katie Boulter becomes the first player to clear up a jigsaw on court and win a match at Wimbledon.”
Another added: “Well done Katie Boulter, despite interruption from protesters who are old enough to know better.”
And a third chimed: “Good performance that from Katie Boulter regrouped well after the oil protester idiot.”
Despite the crazy scenes, Boulter went on to win her match 7-6, 6-2 and then backed it up by beating Viktoriya Tomova in round two.
The three Just Stop Oil supporters were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage.
The jigsaw box was put into a waste bag
The jigsaws cost £22 from the Wimbledon shop
