Tennis star scared as drone attack near tournament sees players evacuated | Tennis | Sport

A worried tennis player admitted it’s “not very safe here right now” after the Fujairah Challenger, a tournament held in the United Arab Emirates, was suspended for the day due to an Iranian drone attack nearby. Iran targeted an oil terminal at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone on Tuesday just six miles (10km) away from the tournament.

A fire broke out at the facility after jets intercepted a drone attack and debris fell and hit a fuel tank in the refinery area. The blaze is under control and no injuries were reported. Normal operations in the area have also resumed. But tennis players and officials at the ATP Challenger event were forced to flee in search of shelter after a nearby explosion triggered air-raid sirens. Play was suspended at the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club for the remainder of the day.

Ukrainian Orlov completed his second-round qualifying match before the attack. He defeated American teenager Ronit Kraki 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 38 minutes. But Orlov heard the jet flying overhead to intercept the drone before he managed to secure his victory.

The 30-year-old, currently ranked 268th on the ATP Tour, said on his Instagram story: “So I just finished my match in Fujairah. Second round. But the play suspended for today because we all got the emails that there was a shelling 10 kilometres from us.

“We all got the notification and actually when I was playing I heard the sound of the jets flying here and there. There is a smoke going here, next to the mountain. So, not very safe here right now.”

Orlov, from Kharkiv, then shared footage from inside a car as he passed the inferno. The clip showed flames and thick black smoke billowing out of a tank in the facility and he captioned it: “Around 10 km from where I played my match today…”

But Japan’s Hayato Matsuoka was unable to finish his match against Russia‘s Daniil Ostapenkov. The duo, along with the umpire and line judges, were seen sprinting off the court during the third set on the ATP’s live stream as tournament officials urged them to leave.

The incident comes after L’Equipe spoke to four French players playing the Fujairah Challenger just 2propers earlier. One, 21-year-old Antoine Ghibaud, declared: “Life is completely normal here.” He arrived last Thursday, two days before the conflict began. Ghibaud is scheduled to play Japan’s Rio Noguchi in the first round proper tomorrow (Wednesday) but it remains to be seen if play will go ahead as normal.

The ATP have declared that the “health, safety and wellbeing of our players, staff and tournament personnel is our priority”. They added: “Following consultation with local authorities and security advisers, play has been cancelled for the remainder of the day as a precautionary measure. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide further updates as appropriate.”

Fujairah is around 90 miles east of Dubai on the UAE’s eastern Gulf coast and Iranian drones and missiles have been fired towards the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries for the last three days. It comes in response to US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The strikes on Iran have killed at least 787 people, say the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

The UAE is an American ally and has labelled the Iranian attacks “blatant aggression and a grave violation of national sovereignty and international law” and added: “The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this escalation and to take all necessary measures to protect its territory, citizens and residents, in a manner that safeguards its sovereignty, security and stability, and protects its national interests and capabilities.”