Lorenzo Musetti can count himself very lucky to still be in the French Open, after kicking a ball which hit a female line judge in the chest.
The Italian No. 8 seed beat American Frances Tiafoe in four sets, but could easily have been defaulted. On his way to losing the second set, as he prepared to serve, he flicked his foot at a ball in frustration, and it went pretty briskly into the line judge.
Musetti, 23, gave an apologetic gesture with his racket and was probably saved by the reaction, or lack thereof, of the official.
When Djokovic flicked a ball away at the US Open in 2020 and hit a line judge, she went down like a nine-pin, and the Serb was kicked out.
Tim Henman became the first player in the Open Era to be defaulted when, at Wimbledon in 1995, he whacked a ball in anger and hit a ball girl on the ear.
The 50-year-old, who is here as a TNT Sport pundit, was well-placed to comment on the Musetti incident.
‘By the letter of the law, if you hit or kick a ball away in frustration and it hits a ballboy, line-judge, or umpire, that can be a disqualification,’ said Henman on TNT.
‘When you look at that, the umpire could have interpreted that as a disqualification.
‘Musetti would feel very unlucky and aggrieved, but when you’re kicking a ball away, you’ve either got to be a better footballer and kick it in the right direction, or you are risking something like that.
‘Coming from a person who got disqualified a long time ago. I was playing doubles with Jeremy Bates. It wasn’t in a fit of anger, nor was I throwing my toys out of the pram, but our opponents had hit two lucky shots, and I had a ball in my pocket.
‘I was turning away to walk back to the baseline to return, and I hit the ball away in frustration and wasn’t looking. The ballgirl was on the other side of the net and popped her head up to run to the other side, and I hit her in the head. That’s a default.
'I was begging the umpire: “Come on, just let me off”. That was my fault. I accepted responsibility and bought the ball girl a nice bunch of flowers the next day. We’ve been friends ever since.’
