Zhizhen Zhang is in the Hamburg Open semi-final after beating Daniel Altmaier in straight sets on Friday though he paid the price for it.
While Yibing Wu became the first Chinese player to ever win an ATP trophy earlier this year, Zhang has been the more consistent player so far. He's had some pretty good performances this year, especially on clay, and he's doing that this week as well. After Madrid and Roland Garros, we're seeing him do well in Hamburg.
The Chinese player defeated some solid native players, such as Yannick Hanfmann and Daniel Altmaier. The latter match took place on Friday, and it saw Zhang win on two simple sets though towards though Zhang paid a hefty price for his victory.
It was a point that caught him pretty close to the net when Altmaier played a backhand which hit Zhang in the nether region. Getting hit by a ball is never fun, especially not if you're hit there and you're a man. Zhang quickly tumbled down onto the court in pain as Altmaier apologized and ultimately walked towards his opponent to help him up.
It was actually the final game of the match so Zhang was able to get off the court rather quickly after that booking a semi-final against Laslo Djere, who proved better than defending champion Lorenzo Musetti.
It doesn't happen that often on a tennis court but it's generally very uncomfortable for the player getting hit. General hits happen more often generally and players are rarely happy about it. Novak Djokovic blasted Cameron Norrie for accidentally hitting him earlier this year in Rome.
Zhang wasn't too angry with Atlameir in this instance, as he accepted his hand quickly. After all, he won the match, so that's a good enough payback. Check out the video of the whole thing below.
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