The tough conditions at this year’s Australian Open claimed another victim Tuesday night, as a ball girl fell ill and vomited on court, halting play for about ten minutes.
It happened during the first-round match on Margaret Court Arena, between Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world number 35 and a former Open finalist, and Japanese underdog Shinichi Mochizuki, ranked 112.
Mochizuki had claimed the first set 6-4, only for Tsitsipas to peg him back, taking the second 6-3 to level the match.
The Japanese player was serving, with an advantage, in the first game of the third when the chair umpire, Australian Thomas Sweeney, suddenly interrupted him.
“Wait please, wait please,” he said.
A second later, there was a groan from the crowd.
“Oh no. A ball girl is getting sick. Yeah, she’s just been sick on the court. We’re going to have to stop and have a clean-up here,” sideline commentator Ryan Harrison said.
“It’s such tough conditions, to be out here all day.”
The incident happened at one end of the court, behind Tsitsipas, who was standing at the baseline, ready to receive.
“Good reaction, I think, from the umpire, everyone. The players, very understanding, as they should be,” commentator John Fitzgerald said.
“Yeah, she just started vomiting, didn’t she? She was feeling ill. Probably too brave to say it a bit earlier.”
“Yes, you’re trying so hard, in that position, to stay out there, and you don’t want to cause a problem at all. The last thing you want to do is disrupt the match,” Harrison agreed.
“But these ball kids are out here, and they work so hard throughout the day. It’s hot, they’re out here long days, they’re having to run, sprint. So many sprints throughout the match.
“The physicality of it on the players is there, but also these ball kids are out here. And it’s brutal conditions sometimes.”
“Sometimes it just comes on so quickly, and the moment to run off the court, you don’t want to, because it’s right in the middle of a point,” another commentator, Robbie Koenig, noted.
“Yeah, I was right here. Sometimes you’ll see the players go and lend a helping hand. There was absolutely no opportunity to do that,” said Harrison.
“As soon as she felt it coming on, she was out and into the tunnel, obviously was trying to hold it in, which is quite difficult when you’re feeling that ill.”
The Australian commentary team was a little quicker to cotton on to what was happening than its counterpart over on the British broadcaster, TNT Sports.
“We’re delayed here. We’ll stop and wait for it to get sorted. Goodness me, everything is going on. Something in the crowd, is it?” they wondered.
Play resumed after about ten minutes, and Tsitsipas went on to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
“I kept reminding myself to stay present in the moment, to lock in. I felt at times I wasn’t really locked in as I expected myself to be,” he told Harrison afterwards.
“Shinichi also made my life a little bit difficult in the beginning. I was trying to find solutions, and ways to get him out of position, and not dictating as much. And it worked. So really happy with the ending of it.”
He was not asked about the incident with the ball girl during his post-match press conference.
(Unless it came up when Tsitsipas was speaking Spanish to a few of the reporters. Translation from anything other than quite rudimentary French is beyond me, sorry.)
Tsitsipas will play Czech Tomas Machac in the second round. He told Harrison he was hoping to “enjoy the fight” against “a great opponent”.
There have been multiple scary incidents involving ball kids at this year’s tournament.
On the very first day, a ball girl collapsed backwards while stationed in the sun next to the umpire’s chair, during a match between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zeynep SonMez.
She was helped back to her feet, and seemed to be suffering from dizziness. The players and Open staff helped her for about five minutes before escorting her off court, as the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
Several players have also fallen victim to the conditions and been forced to retire with cramping, including the seventh seed, France’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.
