The Slatest

Tennis Match Interrupted by Loud Sex, Everybody Wins (Except Guy Who Lost)

On Tuesday night in Sarasota, Florida, young American Frances Tiafoe took on countryman Mitchell Krueger in a first-round match at a tournament on the second-tier ATP Challenger Tour. Tiafoe was serving in the second set—it was Love-15, if you must know—when strange noises began to waft toward the bleachers at James T. Driscoll Stadium.

“Well, that is the most bizarre situation,” said announcer Mike Cation on the Challenger Tour livestream. “I don’t know how to put this, folks, but somebody’s phone going off in the stands,” Cation continued. He then paused for 10 seconds before delivering his final verdict: “And it was an adult video.” Cation, though, subsequently reported on Twitter that his initial analysis was incorrect—that the fans and players were hearing nontelephonic intercourse.

Tiafoe and Krueger, who were both wearing purple Nike gear that made them look like a particular emoji, didn’t seem particularly bothered by the tennis interruptus. Tiafoe in particular could not contain his glee.

In the mid-1990s or thereabouts, exhibitionists shacking up at the hotel attached to Toronto’s SkyDome would regularly treat fans of the Blue Jays baseball team to some off-label entertainment. Two decades later, the American people have at last proved that they too can have sex during a live sporting event, albeit a minor-league one.

Tiafoe won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Update, April 18, 10:35 p.m.: As you can hear at the two-minute mark in the video below, the sounds continued even as Tiafoe won two straight points to take a 30-15 lead. The 19-year-old eventually shouted, “It can’t be that good!”