A certain ball girl at the Australian Open 2024 is going viral online for sharing her experience in intricate detail. An X user Gokalp Taskesen has shared her video, lauding her for the hard work she put into the opening slam of the year. He was mostly impressed by the fact that she endured an ace from Carlos Alcaraz and for working through the longest match in this Majors.
Putting in 68 hours in 25 matches that involved 23 seeded players is no mean feat. Of those 25, 7 were men’s matches, 6 women’s matches, 4 doubles matches, and 8 junior matches. Although her name couldn’t be gathered, the ball girl looked like in her early teens from the video. Her testament to toughness and endurance was further evident in some of the lesser-known incidents that took place during the AO.
Facing an ace from World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz cannot be easy for any ballgirl. It is definitely harder if that same ace is over 209 kmph. This happened during the Spaniard’s quarter-final match against Alexander Zverev, which the German won 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4. However, one ace from Carlos Alcaraz went past Alexander Zverev and hit the girl. She came off fine from it.
This ballgirl is the Australian Open.
Surviving the longest tiebreaker in history, a 4h23m match and an Alcaraz ace in the leg is no easy feat ♂️#thanktheballkids pic.twitter.com/96QWxY5g6X
— Gökalp Taşkesen (@gokotaskes) January 29, 2024
Another remarkable experience for her was being at one of the longest matches of the tournament. It lasted for 4 hours and 23 minutes. It is hard to say which match that was since she didn’t reveal it, however, it wasn’t the longest match ever in the Australian Open 2024, as she guessed. That tag would go to the Felix Augur-Aliassime vs Dominic Thiem first-round clash at the Margaret Court Arena. The match lasted a minute short of three hours.
Love this and thanks for sharing—cheers to all the ball kids in the world from a former ball kid!
— Ed Gaines (@EdGainesIII) January 30, 2024
Good job!
— Tips4TallGirls (@Tips4TallGirls) January 30, 2024
That’s a trend
— Gökalp Taşkesen (@gokotaskes) January 30, 2024
The ball girl also mentioned working during the Elena Rybakina vs Anna Blinkova second-round clash. The match was particularly interesting for what it resulted. World No. 3 Rybakina was out of the tournament after losing the final set tie-breaker that lasted for 42 points. Rybakina lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (20-22).
Some of the other notable mentions in the ‘Best matches’ she did were Zverev vs Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, Zheng Qinwen vs Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter-final, which the former won 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1.
The Round of 16 match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz was another great experience for her. The American won the match by 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and caused a massive upset.
One other instance she mentioned that got a bit of attention was when she picked up fluff for Alexander Zverev. The ball girl said she felt it was usual but it garnered attention. She also expressed a desire to work at the Margaret Court Arena, as she has only been in the John Cain Arena and the Rod Laver Arena.
The Daniil Medvedev vs Emil Ruusuvuori match in the second round was also present in her list of memorable experiences. This one was special since it started around 11 pm local time and it lasted till 3:45 in the morning. Medvedev, who has a penchant for taking a match and winning it in the fifth set, eventually beat Ruusovuori by 3-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0 in a match that lasted 4 hours 23 minutes. It wasn’t the longest match of the tournament, but was in the top 5 longest matches.
