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Tennis star saves ball boy after painful 168km/h accident

A young ball boy at the Marseille Open has been helped off court after suffering an unfortunate injury while fielding a stray serve.

The incident occurred early in Stefanos Tsitsipas’s straight-sets win over Ukrainian veteran Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Standing in the corner, the ball boy moved to catch a fault sent down by Tsitsipas.

But the ball smacked the child in the eye after bouncing hard off an advertising board.

The serve was recorded at 168km/h and its detour off the court certainly didn’t take much pace off it.

The boy covered his eyes to deal with the pain and almost tripped over more of the boards before Stakhovsky arrived to help him leave the court.

Sergiy Stakhovsky jumped into action when he noticed the ball boy was hurt. Pic: TennisTV
Sergiy Stakhovsky jumped into action when he noticed the ball boy was hurt. Pic: TennisTV

The crowd provided the Ukrainian player and the boy with a warm round of applause.

The 6-4 6-3 win by the top-seeded Tsitsipas saw him through to a semi-final against No.3 seed David Goffin.

The news to embarrass Aus Open all over again

Andy Murray could return to competitive tennis after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery last month but the former world No.1 also knows his career might already be over, his mother Judy has said.

Three-times grand slam champion Murray said before his first-round exit at the Australian Open last month that the tournament could be his last as a professional due to severe hip pain.

“I think he will (return),” Judy was quoted as saying by Sky Sports at the Rio Open. “(But) I think he’s aware that it might not be possible.

“He’s a smart guy, he has a lot of interest in different things, he has a lot of options in life after tennis. But the most important thing is that he’s free from the pain he’s had for 20 months.

“He has a young family, you have to think about the quality of life for the rest of your life. Actually, that’s the most important thing.”

The two-time Olympic champion said last month surgery was the only option if he wanted to extend his career.

with AAP