Security review to follow invasion

The All England Club launched a review of its security procedures last night after two spectators on Centre Court jumped from the stands and starting playing an impromptu game moments after Monica Seles had finished playing her second-round match.

The pair, later identified as the serial exhibitionist Karl Power, and his friend, Tommy Dunn, played a couple of shots using rackets they had brought in with them and then ran off court. They were led out by security guards but escaped detention and ran away. Power has previously gained notoriety by pulling off similar stunts involving Manchester United and the England cricket team.

"We are treating this matter very seriously," an All England Club spokesman said. "It was extremely irresponsible. We will obviously be reviewing security procedures with all the relevant authorities to ascertain what happened. It would be a shame if a few show-offs were to ruin the Wimbledon experience for all the other well behaved tennis fans."

The incident brought back memories of the horrific court-side stabbing of Seles at a tournament in Hamburg in 1993. That assault was perpetrated by a fanatical follower of Steffi Graf – Seles' main sporting rival of the day – during a match against Magdelena Maleeva, forcing her out of the game for more than two years.

Many believe that Seles has never fully recovered mentally from the attack. "Certain things you cannot forget," she said earlier this week. Seles was asked about yesterday's incident, which she did not see. Visibly tense on hearing about it, she said: "I couldn't comment, I didn't see it." She added she was happy with security. Power said: "We just walked through."