While Serena Williams is celebrating the birth of her first child, her older sister, Venus, has cruised through the opening rounds at the U.S. Open. Williams has dropped one set in three matches and has secured a spot in the tournament’s fourth round, where she will face off against Spain’s Carla Suarez-Navarro at a time/date that is to be determined.
She got to this point with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Greece’s Maria Sakkari. In the match, Williams unleashed a serve that drilled a ball boy below the belt. This moment caught the eye of Roger Federer, who tweeted it out early on Saturday morning.
🎾👉🏼 💎👉🏼 🆘 pic.twitter.com/6fYgmDFj8z
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) September 2, 2017
Everything about this — from Venus hitting the ball boy, to the reaction, to the fact that it apparently gave Federer so much joy — is wonderful. I do think it’s important, though, to give some credit to the ball boy for looking like he planned on powering through the pain that he was feeling. Not only do I mean physical pain, but’s definitely a little emotionally upset, because he knows deep down inside that the only reason this happened was he tried to catch the serve and could not.
Additionally, shout out to the Dave Wannstedt looking guy who stood next to him whose emotional support for the injured soldier was putting a hand out and making sure he did not collapse to the ground, all while keeping his eyes on the court. Way to be a team player.
