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World No. 64 Pavel Kotov furiously hit the ball on Day 1 of the Australian Open as the Russian's shocking outburst left a ball girl standing nearby absolutely terrified. After failing to return the ball into play, Kotov became vivid and very angrily smashed the ball into the back wall behind him.
Just a few meters from there, a ball girl was standing. After realizing what Kotov was about to do, the girl cowered in cover and looked absolutely terrified and scared. Fortunately, Kotov's ball only hit the back wall and not the girl.
Kotov, who was playing against Arthur Rinderknech in his opener at Melbourne Park, avoided disqualification for his act because the ball didn't make any contact with the ball girl. However, many were left disgusted by Kotov's act and felt the 25-year-old Russian definitely warranted to be defaulted.
Kotov's actions called out by angry fans
In the comment section of the WWOS post, one person wrtoe: "As a parent of a ball kid I find it absolutely disgusting that he was not disqualified from the AO. The ballkids are all volunteers and do not deserve to feel scared or threatened whilst they are on duty."
Another wrote: "Time tennis Australia needs to stamp hard on this unruly bad tempered behaviour, have some RESPECT for those ball kids."
Meanwhile, Kotov went on to win the match after the incident. After five sets, Kotov escaped with a 7-5 6-1 6-7 (6) 6-7 (5) 6-3.
Up by two sets, Kotov had his first match point when 6-5 up in the second-set tie-break. But from that moment, Kotov lost the next three points as Rinderknech went on to force a fourth set.
In the fourth-set tie-break, Kotov had a 5-4 lead before again losing the next three points in key moments and losing the set eventually. However, Kotov was able to bounce back in the fifth set, breaking Rinderknech in the fifth and ninth games to seal a five-set win over the Frenchman.
In his next Australian Open match, Kotov plays against the winner of the match between Nicolas Jarry and Flavio Cobolli.