Streaker gatecrashes Wimbledon men's final

A male streaker held up the resumption of the rain-interrupted Wimbledon men's final between top seed Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Argentine David Nalbandian on Sunday.

The streaker jumped on to Centre Court from the stands and ran around the court, kicking his shoes off, much to the amusement of the crowd who were waiting for the match to restart after a 15-minute rain delay.

Both players were on court and had to wait on the sidelines until officials caught the man, who leapt across the net to evade them. He was eventually led off court.

"We're taking down some details from him and he is expected to be escorted off the premises," a police official at Wimbledon told Reuters.

But the amount of time it took officials to catch him will raise concern about security measures at this year's Wimbledon.

"Security had been reviewed but it is always a tough compromise between containment and the great views and closeness to the court that spectators enjoy at Wimbledon," the All England Club said in a statement.

"In this instance it was quickly apparent that there was no threat but it would be a great shame if we have to put more permanent measures in place to prevent people gaining access to the court. Clearly we hope this will not be the case."

A woman streaker had invaded the Centre Court before the start of the 1996 men's final between Richard Krajicek and Malivai Washington.