Play was suspended before a match could even get underway at the Swiss Indoors after fog filled the court.
Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev completed their warm-up but couldn’t start their quarter-final because of the bizarre interruption.
The American attempted to clear the mist with his towel but there was an eight-minute wait to get things started.
Shelton and Rublev completed their warm-up as normal but both men suddenly sat at their benches instead of getting up to play. Commentators quickly noticed a cloud of smoke lingering in the air.
“We’re just delayed a little bit here for the start, look at the haze around,” Peter Marcato said. “It’s very traumatic Robbie, that’s come from the smoke as the players walk out on court.”
But some of the fans were still baffled. Chair umpire Arnaud Gabas quickly made an announcement, saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to wait a little bit for the start of the match before the smoke is gone.”
Shelton had a suggestion, approaching the chair umpire. “What do you think would happen if we start doing all the towels like this?” he said, swaying his towel in the air and leaving the commentators in stitches.
“Well look, he’s an ideas man, Ben Shelton. Come on, give it a go!” Marcato laughed. Co-commentator Robbie Koenig replied: “Everybody’s criticising but he’s a doer, right?”
The world No. 23 decided to test it out, walking into the middle of the court and using his towel to fan the fog away. Marcato added: “Exactly, he’s the only one coming up with a solution here. Here we go!”
It didn’t do much but Shelton’s attempts earned him a loud applause as Rublev watched on and chuckled. The 22-year-old eventually gave up but told the umpire it could work if 10 people tried.
The pundits had some fun trying to analyse the American’s towel-fanning.
“Good technique. The consistency of the swing was nice, he’s keeping his head up as he moves the towel back and forward. Look at the ground reaction force there and then he transfers that weight through the arms into the towel. And maximum face of the towel towards the smoke,” Koenig joked.
After an eight-minute delay, the fog lifted – thanks in part to Shelton – and play finally got underway in the second match of the day at the Swiss Indoors
The winner of the Shelton vs Rublev quarter-final will face Arthur Fils, who knocked out third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.