Russia's Pavel Kotov worked hard to defeat France's Arthur Rinderknech in the first round of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Saturday, but he was inches away from returning to the locker room empty-handed.
As a five-set winner 7:5, 6:1, 6:7 (6), 6:7 (5) and 6:3, the 65th ranked player in the world experienced some emotional rollercoaster rides. Furthermore, his anger could have gotten him disqualified if he let out all his frustration after a game that didn't go in his favor. A sequence posted online on social media showed him hitting a ball with all his might against the back wall where there was a ball guard; She had the reflex to protect herself as she saw the object speed past her.
Despite the speed of his punch, Kotov did not apologize to the young woman involved. If he had achieved this, the Russian would have seen the referee disqualify him on the spot. In the next round he will face the Italian Flavio Cobolli.