Rafael Nadal is looking to claim his 11th French Open title and he is well on his way to achieving that win. He just won the third round match against Richard Gasquet in a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory on Saturday. He celebrated with not only his usual fist-pumping, but he went out of his way to play just a little more tennis on the clay court at Roland Garros. As he was being interviewed after his sweet win, the World No. 1 was asked if he would be willing to make his biggest fan’s day by rallying with him. According to Tennis Magazine , he didn’t hesitate one bit to say yes.
His biggest fan just happened to be one of the French Open ball boys. The young man came out onto Court Philippe-Chatrier looking a little mesmerized. Nadal then pulled out one of his own rackets for the boy to use. That was pretty special as well. They shook hands and talked to each other before taking to the clay court. The kid showed off his skills as he rallied against Rafael a few times before the ball hit the net.
The ball boy thought that was the end of the rally, but Rafael Nadal seemed impressed enough to go another round. After the second rally, Nadal hopped over the net to shake hands and even give him a quick hug. The crowd seemed to enjoy this display as well. They were heard cheering every time the boy smacked the ball. It was fun to see and it also made a dream come true for this young megafan.
A rally with Rafa?
Safe to say this ballboy had a day to remember. Watch: https://t.co/lvymrR1Lk7 #RG18 pic.twitter.com/x0w8i1YNxi
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2018
Another ball boy earlier in the week had a run-in with a tennis player at the French Open as well. However, this was not quite so fun. USA Today reported that a ball boy had collided with Damir Dzumhur during his match on Friday. They were both going for the fly ball and neither one of them was paying attention to the other one. The boy fell to the ground after slamming into the Bosnian tennis pro.
The boy finally got up, but he did give Dzumhur a fright as he was hovering over him making sure he was okay. He gave the ball boy a couple of hugs before he went on to finish his match against Alexander Zverev. Unfortunately for him, he ended up losing to the World No. 2 player. As for the ball boy, he showed the world that he was A-okay by giving a thumbs up later on after the incident.
Talk about a collision course. ? @DzumhurDamir collides with ball boy during match. #RG18 pic.twitter.com/M5xHLxMlMK
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2018
Rafael Nadal has made it into Round 16 and will next face German Maximilian Marterer on Monday. It is also Nadal’s 32nd birthday on Sunday. He just happens to have the day off. That could mean a little celebrating, along with a lot of practice on the tennis court, will most likely be the schedule for the day.
