Roger Federer "Attack"

During the final of the French Open, a fan jumped onto Roger Federer's end of the court displaying some sort of flag. Roger stepped back and seemed amused by the situation, but then the fan approached Federer and apparently tried to wrap the flag around Roger's head. Roger backed away until security finally arrived and the fan ran away.

Many have sugggested that Roger should have "clocked the knucklehead" with his racquet and whatever damage he inflicted would be justified as self defense. The theory, according to the talking heads on ESPN, is that had Roger "nailed" the guy, other idiots would think twice about trying the same thing. On the other hand, I think Roger handled it in the best possible fashion. No one was injured, and it became a footnote to the match. Had he "clocked" the guy, it would have become a media event, more important than the match itself. As with his tennis, his instincts were right.

More troubling is the fact that the security staff allowed "the fan" to get to Roger. After the Monica Seles stabbing, it was presumed that trained security personnel were adequate to prevent this from happening. Perhaps tournaments need to re-evaluate issues of player safety.