While umpiring a match at the recent World Senior Championships in Sweden, a player ran from the back of the court in an attempt to return a net shot from the opponent. Quite amazingly he was successful in playing the shot. Unfortunately he was unable to stop before "touching" the net. When I say "touching" the net, I really mean demolishing – the point of contact was just in front of the Service Judge, and the player ending up on the floor almost in the opponents service box, tangled up in the net! The post by the SJ ended up inside the service box, the post in front of me, while remaining upright, moved into the court inside the singles side line.

Sudden silence descended on the hall, which with 9 courts in use, was quite surreal! Fortunately the player concerned was uninjured, and after the court had been rebuilt we were able to continue, although I was asked why I had called a fault – the reason being that the shuttle was still in play when the player struck the net!