Unexpected fire alarm chaos has already stolen the spotlight at the Berlin Tennis Open, leaving several WTA stars shaken. American ace Coco Gauff already experienced the disruption before her match against Paula Badosa in Germany. However, this time, it is Serena Williams who has found herself caught in a similar situation twice after her long-awaited comeback, even forcing the American tennis icon and her daughters into the alarming incident.

“This is two weeks in a row this has happened to me. It happened in London. On this occasion, I decided not to go downstairs… After 10 minutes of it going off, I texted some of the team and asked, ‘Is the hotel on fire?’ Because I don’t think I’m going to come down,” Rennae Stubbs said in her latest “Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast”.

The 55-year-old, who has been serving as Serena Williams’ assistant coach since her comeback, then shared what happened with Serena Williams during the same incident in Berlin. According to former doubles world No. 1, Serena was staying at the hotel with her daughters, Olympia and Adira.

“I get up and put on my robe and slippers. 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? Good for Adira. She was like, ‘What’s going on?’ The entire tournament was outside,” Stubbs explained.

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 later.

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.

Fellow players like Alexandra Eala and Eva Lys were also among the guests who had to leave their rooms. Lys later even shared a photo on her IG story with Coco and Eala while captioning it, “3 am fire alarm fit check.” The post was soon reposted by both Gauff and Eala on their social media platform as well.

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 early morning 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 UK and Germany, players will surely be hoping they can avoid similar disruptions before stepping onto the SW19 in the coming weeks.