WATCH: TV viewers freak out as plane appears to fly backwards at the French Open

We almost packed away our tinned food and headed for the shelter so sure were we that the end of the world was upon us.

After all, the eighth sign of the apocalypse is "aircraft will travel backwards on tennis courts." During a break in play at Roland Garros yesterday, the shadow of a plane appeared to fly backwards on the court which had many viewers, us included, believing that The Matrix had come to life.

Can someone explain to me why the plane shadow is going backwards??? #FrenchOpen pic.twitter.com/skYtg9YfrN

— Zeb Goodman (@ZebG1996) June 1, 2015

One eagle-eyed fan saw the plane itself flying backwards over Andy Murray's head.

Did anybody just see the backwards flying plane at the tennis?! Wtf #FrenchOpen pic.twitter.com/sMtjeSVWQd — th@und@d@wg ™ (@thaundadawg) May 25, 2015

Weird, right? Our fears were eased, though, when we did a bit of digging and found out that a model Emirates plane was above the court on a wire so could move backwards and forwards. Phew! Close one lads. [caption id="attachment_27008" align="alignnone" width="647"] Picture via Twitter[/caption] H/t to DailyMirror