A protester set his arm on fire during the opening session of this year’s Laver Cup at the O2 in London.

The protester ran on the pitch during a match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman on the first day of the competition.

The individual was wearing a t-shirt which read: “End UK Private Jets” and was quickly dragged out of the court after the fire had been extinguished with water.

After a brief delay, the match, the second of day one, was able to resume.

A Laver Cup statement read: “A man accessed the court this afternoon and was promptly removed by security. Play was stopped briefly, he has been arrested and the situation is being handled by the police.”

The Northern Echo: PAPA (Image: PA)

Tsitsipas went on to win the match 6-2, 6-1 and give Team Europe a 2-0 lead over the Rest of the World in the competition after Casper Ruud had earlier beaten Jack Sock 6-4, 5-7, 10-7.

“It came out of nowhere. I have no idea what this is all about. I never had an incident like this happen on court. I hope he is all right,” Tsitsipas explained, having spoken to the umpire before his singles clash resumed.

“I wanted to proceed the match without having any minor changes to the court and to make sure it was playable, especially that area. It also got in my way of viewing experience, the way I saw the court later. There was a big mark over there and I just wanted to get it cleared up.”

The protest comes ahead of Roger Federer's farewell from tennis later this evening.

Seeing the Swish star play for the final time before officially retiring from tennis. 

The player is the 20-time Grand Slam champion and will team up with his old rival Rafa Nadal for Europe's doubles match against Team World at the cup in London.