BALLKIDS TO AVOID TOWEL DUTY

BALLKIDS in tennis could be spared the unhygienic duty of handing towels to players in future. This year’s NextGen Finals — the eight-man championship for the season’s top Under 21 players in Milan — is to have a towel rail at the back of the court in a bid to save time and stop the ballboys and ballgirls having to act like butlers. The NextGen event has previously trialled innovations that have then crept into mainstream tour events, so while Wimbledon will not immediately follow suit they could adopt a similar idea in future. The move was announced at the Italian Open, which will today see Kyle Edmund and Jo Konta in second-round action, against Frenchman Lucas Pouille and Taipei’s Hsieh Su-wei respectively. Edmund has been working on his speed and court coverage in Rome with former British sprinter Darren Chin, who previously trained for two years alongside Usain Bolt. Meanwhile, former World No 11 Alize Cornet has escaped a doping ban for three missed tests as it was ruled that testers did not make ‘reasonable’ efforts to locate her for one of them.