One of the Australian Open ballgirls was called out by a player mid-match as she picked up her water bottle and walked off during a point. Max Purcell complained to the umpire when the ballkid distracted him in a rally, despite conceding that his opponent still deserved the point. The complaint went against one of Roger Federer’s key rules – never upset a ballkid.
Tennis stars have faced plenty of distractions so far at this year’s Australian Open. Fans are now allowed to enter the stands in between games, causing an issue when trying to serve. Meanwhile, Court 6 has become known as the ‘party court’ after having a two-story courtside bar built nearby, with some players struggling to focus amid the loud music and drink-fuelled chatter.
But Purcell was caught out by something else during his match against qualifier Mate Valkusz when a ballgirl started moving in the middle of a rally. The Australian No. 3 was leading by two sets to one as Valkusz served at 1-1 in the fourth, and he stormed towards the umpire’s chair to complain about the distraction after dumping the ball into the net to lose the point.
“He’s literally hit the serve. I’m watching the ball. She just started walking off the court. You see it as well? You see the ballgirl?” Purcell said to the official. The world No. 45 was happy to let his opponent have the point but continued to make his case.
He added: “I mean it’s your point, it’s fine. She literally picked up a drink bottle and started walking off the court. She started walking over [there] and around.” Despite the momentary disturbance, Purcell was able to come through the match 3-6 7-6(2) 6-4 7-5 and will now face No. 11 seed Casper Ruud in the second round.
But his complaint broke one of Federer’s golden rules, as the 20-time Grand Slam champion staunchly defended ballkids and wasn’t happy when his colleagues would call them out for issues like being slow to pass them a towel. The retired star was a ballboy at his home tournament, the Swiss Indoors Basel, as a youngster.
Speaking in 2018, Federer said: “Sure you always want to respect the ball kids for who they are and the great job that they’re doing. But it’s not easy for each and every player to control their emotions exactly.”
The 103-time title winner also wanted to ensure that ballkids had a good experience at tournaments and that they didn’t come away feeling like a player had an issue with them. “The ball kids are really important to us because they are also maybe the future of our game. I was happy when I left a tennis tournament, I felt like: ‘Oh man, it was just all good,’” he added.
“There were no negatives, so you don’t want to have them leave feeling like, oh my god, like I was not appreciated or I was not liked or it was actually a horrible thing, you know? So yes, it needs to be taken care of.”
