'Oh my god': Tennis world rocked by frightening ballboy incident
Tennis fans and pundits got an almighty fright on Wednesday when a ballboy at the Halle Open suffered a nasty injury.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert was taking on Sergiy Stakhovsky in Germany when the young boy slipped on the grass while retrieving a ball.
The boy appeared to twist his ankle and knee and stayed down on the ground for several minutes.
Officials were forced to take the boy from the court in a wheelchair, the young man unable to walk.
Both players showed their concern and checked on his welfare, with Herbert offering the youngster his headband as a memento.
Lovely touch from @p2hugz 🤗
Gives his headband to an injured ballboy as he leaves the court in a wheelchair 🤕 Hoping he recovers quickly!#NoventiOpen pic.twitter.com/d6gny9o8zS— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 19, 2019
Luckily for the boy he appeared to escape serious injury and got to meet Herbert and the event mascot after the match.
Good news! 🍀 Ball boy Jaron's feeling better now and got his very special picture with @p2hugz and of course GERRY BERRY 😍😊 #noventiopen19 #HeIsFine 📸 NOVENTI OPEN_HalleWestfalen pic.twitter.com/p49ZDlPIpW
— NOVENTI OPEN (@ATPHalle) June 19, 2019
While not as bad as it first looked, the nasty scenes shocked a number of tennis journos and fans.
Omg, bad ball boy injury in Halle ://///
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) June 19, 2019
Ballkid... pic.twitter.com/X79AwbR5HC
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) June 19, 2019
Oh what happened to him?? 🙁
— Sausan سوسن (@SausanRF) June 19, 2019
He was removed in a Wheelchair :((( https://t.co/f9zDlnD4Cr
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) June 19, 2019
Herbert went on to win the match 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.