Showing frustration on the court is pretty standard for tennis players, but it ended badly for 17-year-old Italian player Maria Vittoria Viviani.
Viviani was disqualified from the junior girls tournament at the Australian Open after she hit a ball kid with a ball in frustration on Sunday.
Viviani had just lost a point from an unforced error against her Chinese opponent Xin Yu Wang in the first set. Annoyed, she hit a ball away with her racquet toward the side of the court.
That ball then hit a ball kid in the chest, but the force was minimal, according to Italian news outlet Il Sussadario. It’s not clear how they judged that, but it is true that Viviani appears to tap the ball away rather than thwack it with critical force.
Viviani can be seen trying to apologise quickly afterwards, but it was enough to send her packing from the court in tears. The match ended 6-2 to Wang.
Maria Vittoria Viviani was defaulted in her R1 junior match for this… pic.twitter.com/6HnUeuBDK6
— Graham (@juki_tennis) January 22, 2017
It’s not the first time that a ball hitting someone else on the court has ended in a player being disqualified.
English player Tim Henman was given his marching orders during a doubles match at Wimbledon in 1995 when he hit a ball away following the loss of a point and hit a ball girl in the face.
Tennis Australia has been contacted by Mashable for comment.
