MELBOURNE: When a ball girl fainted due to heat, Türkiye’s Zeynep Sönmez (World No. 112) and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (World No. 11) stopped their Australian Open match to help her, here on Monday (19th Jan, 2026).
As the child, who stood beside the chair of the umpire, fell flat on her back, Alexandrova rushed to fetch ice cubes and Zeynep Sönmez helped the youngster walk to shade.
Zeynep Sönmez went to grab her and said “sit down and drink something, you’re not fine”. She said when they were walking “she fainted so luckily I grabbed her . She was really shaking.” Talking to BBC Sports Zeynep Sönmez stated: “I always say It is more important to be a good “As we were walking she fainted so luckily I grabbed her. She was really shaking.” She said: “It was just my instinct to help her and I think everyone would do the same. I’m happy I got to help.”
The ball girl managed to get back to her feet and was helped off court by medical staff, with play resuming after a six-minute delay. Meanwhile, it was proclaimed by Tennis Australia that the youngster was given medical treatment before sending to thei homes.
Tennis Australia confirmed that the girl had received medical attention on site before going home.
Newspakistan.tv
