Ball girl left terrified as tennis player smashes ball at wall in Australian Open outburst

Russian tennis player Pavel Kotov left a ball girl visibly scared after lashing out with a tennis ball at the Australian Open.

The first Grand Slam tournament of 2024 kickstarted a day earlier than usual on Sunday in what will be 15-day event in Melbourne with Kotov featuring in one of the opening first round matches.

It was all going so well for Kotov against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech as he gained a two-set lead with 7-5 and 6-1 victories before losing grip on the tie.

Rinderknech won the next two sets 7-6 via tiebreaks and the pressure seemed to mount on the shoulders of Kotov.

During the fifth and deciding set, he dropped and point and took out his anger on the ball by smashing it against the back wall.

One camera angle showed a ball girl in the background flinching and looking scared in fear of it hitting her as it flew past.

Luckily for Kotov, he went on to win the final set 6-3 and advance to the second round after the umpire chose not to punish him.

This has raised eyebrows from many tennis fans as such actions could very easily have led to him being disqualified form the tournament.

Rules in the official ATP rulebook state: “Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball while on the grounds of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match [including warm-up].”

Kotov, who is now in the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, will next face either Flavio Cobolli or Nicolas Jarry.

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Defending champion Novak Djokovic was also victorious in his first round match as he beat Dino Prizmic 6-2 6-7 6-3 6-4.

World no.2 and Wimbledon holder Carlos Alcaraz will take to the court against Richard Gasquet on Tuesday.

The Australian Open is also set to see the return of Emma Raducanu having seen most of her 2023 season affected by injuries.