Unexpected fire alarm chaos has already stolen the spotlight at the Berlin Tennis Open. American ace Coco Gauff already experienced the disruption before her match against Paula Badosa. However, Serena Williams found herself caught in a similar situation twice, forcing the tennis icon and her daughters, Adira and Olympia, to evacuate their stay.

“This is two weeks in a row this has happened to me,” narrated Rennae Stubbs, who is a part of Williams’ coaching team, in the latest episode of the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. “I walk down the eight floors to the outside of the hotel. Everyone was standing out there. Not only were Serena and her two kids… Can you imagine waking up your two-year-old in the middle of the night at 3-4 in the morning? She [Adira] was like, ‘What’s going on?’ The entire tournament was outside” 

Stubbs has been serving as the 23-time Grand Slam Champion’s assistant coach since her comeback, and shared her view on the incident during the same time in Berlin.

The incident, however, turned into an unusual gathering outside the hotel. Players, coaches, and even other guests all waited together until they were allowed back inside.

Stubbs also revealed that tennis players were not the only people caught in the disruption in the middle of the night. “You’ve got Serena Williams on one side, Doja Cat on the other. You’ve got all of us standing around. We were out there for a good 20-25 minutes,” Stubbs added.

A similar situation had already unfolded earlier for former world No. 2 Coco Gauff. She was forced to evacuate the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the middle of the night after a fire alarm, alongside fellow players like Alexandra Eala and Eva Lys. Lys later shared a photo on her Instagram story with Coco and Eala while captioning it, “3 am fire alarm fit check.” The post was soon reposted by both Gauff and Eala.

The German WTA player later revealed that the local time was 3:46 am, suggesting they had remained outside for over an hour. 

While Serena Williams has now experienced the same fire alarm chaos after back-to-back grass court events, it was clearly not the first time such incidents have disrupted tennis players.

Rafael Nadal forced to evacuate London hotel during ATP finals after fire alarm

Back in 2017, the 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal and many of the world’s top men’s players were forced to evacuate their central London hotel after a fire alarm sounded around 4 am in the morning.

The top players, who had gathered in London for their ATP Finals, found themselves standing outside in freezing temperatures before sunrise. Former world No. 8 Jack Sock later described the experience as “15 minutes of freezing, miserableness.” 

The early-morning evacuation left players tired and frustrated before their matches. The American also recalled how the alarm suddenly woke everyone inside the hotel. “It was probably one of the most annoying noises I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Sock added after the incident.

Another similar incident took place at the New Haven Open back in 2013. A fire alarm forced a brief evacuation of the Connecticut Tennis Center as players were preparing for the QF matches.

Then, tournament spokesman Matt Van Tuinen later explained that the fire alarm had been triggered by smoke from cooking in the players’ lounge shortly before noon; however, it was not caused by a serious emergency.

With fresh fire alarm incidents now making headlines again during the grass-court swing in both the UK and Germany, players will surely be hoping they can avoid similar disruptions before stepping onto SW19 in the coming weeks.