‘Luckily I grabbed her’ – player helps ball girl after collapse

Zeynep Sonmez, a Turkish tennis player, helped carry a ball girl off the court during her Australian Open first-round match, saying it was more important to be a “good human being than a good tennis player.

The ball girl, who was standing next to the umpire’s chair, fell flat on her back before quickly rising up as Sonmez’s opponent Ekaterina Alexandrova served for the second set.

Sonmez ran over to the side of the court and assisted in getting the youngster medical care in the shade.

After a six-minute delay, the ball girl managed to get back on her feet and was helped off the court by medical staff. Play resumed.

She was actually struggling, she said. Sonmez told BBC Sport that she was fine, but it was clearly too obvious that she was not.

So I grabbed her and said, “Sit down and drink, you’re not fine.”

She fainted as we were walking, so luckily I grabbed her. She was genuinely trembling.

Tennis Australia confirmed that the girl had been treated on-site before returning home.

World No. 112 Sonmez continued, “I always say it’s more important to be a good person than a good tennis player.”

After going through the second set, Russian qualifier Sonmez rallied from 3-0 down to win the decider to seal a 7-5, 4:4, 6-4, 7-0 upset over her fourth match point.

Somnez said, “I’d love to talk to the ball girl if I see her tomorrow or later in the tournament.”

As Melbourne Park’s first major of the year began, the mercury was forecast to reach 35C by next weekend. The highs were 28C on Sunday.

After conducting research into the effects of heat stress on tennis players, the Australian Open updated its extreme heat policy (EHP) in 2019.

The heat stress scale (HSS), which is used to determine when the conditions become too challenging and when players’ health may be in danger, was born out of this study.

In a record-setting match, the 20th seed of Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk, also suffered a surprise defeat on day one when she defeated Elsa Jacquemot, the country’s no. 58.

Frenchwoman Jacquemot won 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-7) in what was the first triple tie- break match in Melbourne in the Open era.

After a grueling three hours and 31 minutes, Jacquemot fought back after going set and five and five to one and saved a match point.

It was just two minutes shy of 2025’s longest match, which was the longest of the season so far.

Afterward, Jacquemot said, “I won it with the heart and the guts.”