3 days ago
Alex de Minaur in distressing ball boy scene during Wimbledon victory
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Alex de Minaur's Wimbledon campaign opener was briefly suspended after distressing scenes of a ball boy needing treatment on the court.
The Aussie took down Roberto Carballes Baena in straight sets as he navigated the rare heatwave that has caused drama across the All England Club on the opening days of the tournament.
With the finish line in sight, the match was delayed when a ball boy needed to be replaced after he appeared to be struggling in the 32C heat.
Chair umpire Louis Boucharinc quickly announced the reason for the delay.
'Ladies and gentlemen, we are just waiting for one ballboy to replace someone who was not feeling well,' he said.
'So we will resume play as soon as they come back.'
The match official ended up giving instructions to the ball boys and ball girls about how to operate with new roles across the court.
The chair umpire took immediate action. Photo: Channel 9.
The match official climbed down from his chair to request for medical personnel to attend to the ball boy.
'Someone has been removed from court for feeling dizzy and is spending some time in the shade,' commentator Katherine Downes said on the BBC.
'The umpire is just calling up to ask for a replacement and somebody to come and give assistance to the member of staff.'
De Minaur didn't have any troubles closing out the match, but he said in his post match press conference he had to 'lift my level' to keep progressing in the tournament.
'It felt like a very solid match against a tough competitor, and there was a little bit of everything,' de Minaur said, as reported by NCA NewsWire.
'At the end I had to lift my level when I needed it and played some clutch tennis to finish it off, so overall, quite happy with the performance.'
Even Australia's Alex de Minaur felt the heat. Picture: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP
He will face Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in the next round after he defeated Australian Adam Walton in a tough five-set battle, one of four losers including debutant James McCabe.
Day two was better than day one for the large cohort of Australians at Wimbledon, with four winners, but another five of the 17 who started the year's third grand slam are out.
Eastbourne champ Maya Joint couldn't replicate her form in her Wimbledon debut, suffering a first-round exit as new Australian Daria Kasatkina, who overcame a nervous pre-match vomit, remains the only female to progress to the second round as temperatures hit the 30s.
World No.1 Jannik Sinner is the next challenge for Aleksandar Vukic, who joined Alex de Minaur on the day two winners' list, surviving after prevailing against Chinese Taipei's Tseng Chun-Hsin in a gruelling, three-hour battle.
'It's my third first-round win in a row, so hopefully I can go a little further. My next opponents going to be a little tricky with that,' Vukic said.
'If there's a surface to play him on, it's probably this one to be honest. It's a bit more random in a way, more upsets can happen, so hopefully I can be one of those.'
Rinky Hijikata charged past David Goffin 6-3 6-1 6-1 in the last match of the day on Court 5 to score the first win of his career against the former world No.7.
Kasatkina, who now plays under the Australian flag after defecting from Russia, put a horror grasscourt lead-in behind her, and the messy pre-match incident to beat Emiliana Arango 7-5 6-3.
'A lot of people saw it five metres from the court. I vomit, so just before entering the court, yes, the little accident happened, like, completely out of nerves,' Kasatkina explained.
Daria Kasatkina got on the winners' list. Picture: AP Photo/Alastair Grant
Having lost opening-round matches at Queen's, Berlin and Eastbourne, it was a sigh of relief from the 16th seed after the win.
'Honestly, the start of the day was very, very tough for me (and) I was a bit more nervous than usual,' Kasatkina admitted.
'We had a very physical match, so (I'm) super happy that I was able to push to the end of the first set and to get the lead in the second one because that was very important.'
Joint made a less impressive entry to Wimbledon, losing in straight sets to Liudmila Samsonova, while fellow Aussie Priscilla Hon was also unable to get to round two.
AUSSIE RESULTS AT WIMBLEDON
Gentlemen's singles, first round
(11) Alex de Minaur (AUS) d Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 6-2 6-2 7-6(2)
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) d Tseng Chun-Hsin (TPE) 6-3 6-4 4-6 7-6(5)
Fabian Marozsan (HUN) d (Q) James McCabe (AUS) 6-1 6-4 6-3
Arthur Cazaux (FRA) d Adam Walton (AUS) 6-3 7-6(6) 4-6 6-7(5) 6-1
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d David Goffin (BEL) 6-3 6-1 6-1
Ben Shelton (USA) d (Q) Alex Bolt (AUS) d [10] 6-4 7-6(1) 7-6(4)
Ladies' singles, first round
(16) Daria Kasatkina (AUS) d Emiliana Arango (COL) 7-5 6-3
(18) Ekaterina Alexandrova d Priscilla Hon (AUS) 6-2 7-5
(19) Liudmila Samsonova d Maya Joint (AUS) 6-3 6-2
— with NewsWire
Originally published as Alex de Minaur in distressing ball boy scene during Wimbledon victory
