Either airplanes have a hidden gear we don’t know about, or shenanigans were afoot at the French Open on Monday.
As Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens duked it out at Roland Garros, the shadow of an airplane was spotted on the court’s clay. Nothing too strange, right?
WRONG.
[tweet https://twitter.com/ZebG1996/status/605376676642623488 align=’center’]
There’s no way that’s not a plane, and there’s no way that plane isn’t flying backwards.
[tweet https://twitter.com/thaundadawg/status/602893262580543488 align=’center’]
As it turns out, both of those statements are true. But there’s a catch.
[tweet https://twitter.com/jamcilke/status/605825734230183937 align=’center’]
The bizarre sight was the result of an advertising campaign by airline company Fly Emirates, which decided to sponsor the French Open’s wire camera by affixing a model plane to it.
That reality is much more lame than the potential invention of backwards-flying planes, but it’s a pretty clever move on Fly Emirates’ part. The wire camera automatically moves back and forth to capture the action, and when the sun is in the right spot, the mounted plane casts a shadow that draws some incredulous stares when it travels in reverse.
Even that miraculous sight couldn’t take eyes off the main stage Wednesday, though, as Novak Djokovic ousted Rafael Nadal in straight sets to hand the Spaniard his second French Open loss in 72 matches.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@standardnews
