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Updated March 25th, 2022 at 09:46 IST

Fans fume as Jenson Brooksby hits ball boy with racket yet escapes disqualification

American tennis player Jenson Brooksby hit a ball boy with his racquet in an angry outburst during a Miami Open match on Thursday.

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
Jenson Brooksby, Miami Open, Tennis, jenson brooksby vs federico coria, Nick Kyrgios, Jenson Brooksby throws racquet at ball boy, Brooksby outburst
Image: AP | Image:self
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American tennis player Jenson Brooksby hit a ball boy with his racquet in an angry outburst during a Miami Open match on Thursday. The incident occurred in the 3rd set of a match between Brooksby and Argentina's Federico Coria. Brooksby lost his temper after missing a serve, tossing his racquet behind the court. The racquet hit the ball boy on his legs. Following the incident, umpire Carlos Bernardes handed Brooksby a minor penalty, deducting one point from his total score. 

However, it has now prompted a social media debate, with tennis fans criticising the harshness of Brooksby's punishment after he was spared disqualification.

Former American tennis player Patrick McEnroe was among those who chastised US tennis for not punishing Brooksby more severely. The 55-year-old turned to his official Twitter handle to react to the incident as he wrote, “Seriously what is it going to take …drawing blood …to properly punish a tennis player. This is absolutely absurd".

Meanwhile, supporters of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic also joined the bandwagon on Twitter, suggesting that if the 20-time Grand Slam winner had been involved in the episode, he would not have gotten away with just a point deduction. Fans reminded how Djokovic was kicked out of the 2020 US Open after accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a tennis ball.

Last month, when German tennis player Alexander Zverev was involved in a similar outburst during a match at the Mexican Open, he was thrown out of the tournament and was fined $40,000. Zverev was handed the punishment after he hit the umpire's chair with his racquet following his defeat against doubles pair Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara. 

Brooksby vs Coria

As far as the match is concerned, Brooksby came back from a set down to beat Coria 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Going into the match, Brooksby climbed two places in the live rankings to No. 37, a career-best for the 21-year-old. Before the match versus Brooksby, Coria had also risen in the live rankings to become the new world No. 59. Brooksby will now lock horns against Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round of the Miami Open on Saturday.  

Image: AP

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Published March 25th, 2022 at 09:46 IST

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