- Ball girl collapses during opening ceremony
- Concerning incident occurred on live TV
A ball girl carrying a flag has passed out during the opening ceremony of the Australian Open on Sunday morning, with hot and muggy conditions likely to blame.
The scary moment occurred at Melbourne Park while the ball kid was carrying the Aboriginal flag in a guard of honour behind Aussie tennis great John Newcombe.
In the clip, Newcombe can be seen talking to camera while a flag hits the deck behind him.
There was a delay in proceedings afterwards as officials rushed to help the youngster, before wheeling her away in a wheelchair.
A spokesperson for the event told reporters that the ball girl is ‘absolutely fine’.
A short while later the heavens opened up and the rain came down, suspending play on outside courts.
A ball girl has passed out during the opening ceremony of the Australian Open
A spokesperson for the Australian Open told reporters that the ball girl is ‘absolutely fine’
‘What you’ll find on the surface is actually the lines that are the most slippery,’ John Millman said in commentary for Nine.
‘That is a different type of paint they use to do those white lines. That Melbourne sign at the back of the court … it also gets really slippery.
‘There’s only one surface you can can continue to play on with this type of rain and that is the courts of Roland-Garros at the French Open.’
The rain came down as local hope Omar Jasika was threatening to turn the tide against Hugo Gaston.
Frenchman Gaston raced through the first set 6-2.
But 27-year-old wildcard Jasika created six break-point opportunities – none of which he was able to convert – in the second game of the second set before play was suspended due to rain on Sunday with the pair locked at deuce.
The action was continuing under closed roofs on the three main show courts.
Jasika shot to prominence in 2014 when he became the first player in 28 years to win the boys’ singles and doubles titles at the US Open.
Rain has halted play on the outside courts early on day one of the Australian Open
The Australian has won only one of his four previous main-draw grand slam singles matches – and that was way back at the 2016 Australian Open.
Gaston lost his only previous clash with a local at the Australian Open, beating Christopher O’Connell in the opening round in 2022.
Jasika is one of five Australians in action on day one at Melbourne Park along with Adam Walton, Aleksandar Vukic, Li Tu and Daria Saville.
Two-time defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus begins her title defence on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday evening against American Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open title-winner,
Other big names in action on day one include men’s No.2 seed Alexander Zverev from Germany and sixth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud.
