Ranting Novak leaves ball girl tearful
Champion throws towel tantrum on Centre Court
WORLD number one Novak Djokovic left a ball girl trembling in fear after screaming at her on Centre Court yesterday.
The Serb lost his cool in his fourthround match against Kevin Anderson at 3-2 down in the fifth set, leaving the girl looking tearful.
The 28-year-old lost a point and let rip at the young girl, screaming ‘towel’ as he walked towards her. A spectator said: ‘He was only two or three feet away, it was full on, I was quite shocked. She had to stay on court afterwards. She was trembling.’
Djokovic had returned to Centre Court after his match against Anderson, 29, was stopped for bad light on Monday night. He had fought back to two sets all after losing the first two sets.
He went on to win 6-7 (6-8) 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-4 7-5 but was criticised on Twitter for his outburst and now faces a fine. He said afterwards he would apologise to the young girl ‘if I did something wrong’.
‘It was a very difficult match, one of the most difficult in my Wimbledon career, that’s for sure,’ he said.
Asked about the ball girl, he replied: ‘As I said, it was a very, very intense fifth set today.
‘I just took out everything I had, not on anybody but me. I was looking at the box, but I was talking to myself…emotions are present. Always going through ups and downs…I was trying to get myself motivated. I was not showing much emotion yesterday. I was just trying to keep it together. Sometimes it’s just good to scream and let it all out, because that’s the way I work. Somebody else is different.
‘I’m sorry. There was nothing towards her. Maybe she was just afraid of my screaming there. I was pretty close to her. I’m definitely going to try to apologise to her if I did something wrong.’
It is not the first time Djokovic has lost his rag over a towel this year. In April at the Miami Open he screamed in the face of a ball boy during his match with Andy Murray. The youngster later scurried off looking shaken by the outburst.
Djokovic later issued a video apology calling it a ‘bad moment’ and claiming he had been shouting at his team.
‘Also I want to reflect on a bad moment that happened in the final against Andy when I lost the second set. I yelled to my camp and my box in frustration,’ he said in the clip posted online. ‘I saw the replay. Unfortunately a ball boy was in the middle of it and I really, really feel sorry and regret that he was there. There was absolutely no intention whatsoever to hurt him or scare him in any kind of way. I sincerely hope he forgives me. I really apologise.’
Djokovic, who is married with a young child, then extended his apology to the boy’s parents.
‘I do care about children a lot right now and I look at it in a much different way,’ he added. ‘So I want to apologise to his parents for this situation as well. As a father I wouldn’t wish that something like this happens to my son. Again I sincerely hope you can forgive me and that we can move on. Unfortunately sometimes the emotions get the better of you.
‘Also at times as a professional athlete you learn how to control them and how to stay composed and mentally strong.’
Thousands of youngsters apply each year to be a ball boy or girl at the All England Club. Just 250 are selected from schools in Wimbledon, with an average age of 15 – though some are as young as 13.
Research revealed this week that ball girls and boys at The Championships will run hundreds of miles over the course of the tournament.
On average ball boys will run around 7,100 steps or 3.36 miles – almost as many as players’ 9,000 steps – an experiment by Currys PC World found. Last week a ball boy fainted on Wimbledon’s hottest day ever as temperatures soared to 35.7C (96F).
‘Sometimes it’s good to scream’