A ball boy from the Indian Wells Open has given his perspective on which players are nice and who are not as kind to the ball kids.
The ball kids are a very important part of every tournament that takes place. This is why it is hoped that they are treated well by officials and the players for the work that they do.
Some heartwarming examples of players being role models off-court do exist. For example, Sinner recently practiced with a young fan with cerebral palsy, who mentioned on social media how great the Italian was to him.
Sinner is probably feeling really good after the news of him being comfortably ahead in the current race for the ATP Finals. But it is still very admirable that he makes time to do such nice acts for the fans.
However, a ball kid has opened up on Reddit about which players he did not find as nice in his experience in Indian Wells. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Ben Shelton were two notable players the ball boy was not a fan of.
"Shelton is rude and dismissive off the court, somewhat self-centered when he plays. Djokovic gets impatient when he loses and sometimes lashes out at the ball boys, but usually he does it at the umpires. There are also players who hit the ball boys for their behavior on the court."
The ball boy did not stop there. He also revealed that Alexander Zverev is the worst player he has dealt with, before naming Nick Kyrgios, Cameron Norrie and Alycia Parks as other difficult players.
"The worst was Zverev, who yelled at me for giving him the wrong ball even though they all looked the same. He was losing. Kyrgios almost hit my friend in the face with his racket after the match with Nadal. Norrie and Zverev himself both yelled at a boy with Down syndrome. Alycia Parks kept telling us to give her the (bad word!) ball."
Luckily, there are many players the ball boy said were very nice. Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner and Maria Sakkari are among those mentioned, but Coco Gauff was called the best of all the players.
"The best is Coco Gauff, she asked us to make a TikTok with her, but they were so bad that she never published them. The nicest and kindest are Stan Wawrinka, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alex De Minaur, Maria Sakkari, Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Emil Ruusuvuori, Ons Jabeur, Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz, Ugo Humbert and Gael Monfils."
0 Comments