WATCH: Player Suffers Concussion After Being Hit With Racket At Playford Challenger

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 at 19:20

byNurein Ahmed

Occupational hazards are intertwined with the sport of tennis, and the use of a tennis racket is the risk that tennis players have to bear with, due to the injuries associated with it.

But on Tuesday the injury that Zimbabwean player Benjamin Lock picked up at the ATP Playford Challenger was not particularly his fault. The World No. 346 was sitting adjacent to the baseline taking a breather and watching a practice session involving Australian player Li Tu.

But an unfortunate situation ensued as Li Tu's racket slipped from his grasp and flew directly at Benjamin Lock sitting on his chair, and landed on his head. The Australian was shaken to the core and reacted in disbelief, clasping his hands on his chin at the bizarre, but disturbing incident.

Li Tu could be seen running straight at his distraught fellow player who was in pain to apologize and presumably lend any medical help. It was unclear how much damage the racket impact had on Lock's head. However, his imminent withdrawal from the Playford Challenger where he was scheduled to face Coleman Wong Chak-lam in the first round was a hint that he took a serious whack on the head that was detrimental.

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Li Tu, who had won his first-round match a day earlier against Zachary Viiala, was ousted in the second round of the same tournament by Japan's Taro Daniel in straight sets.

Lock has since updated the tennis community that he had suffered a concussion and "will be back in a few days" as per his post on X (formerly Twitter).