A scary moment unfolded Sunday at the Australian Open when a ball girl collapsed in the middle of a match.
The medical emergency brought the match to a screeching halt, after Turkey’s Zaynep Sonmez noticed that the ball girl was losing her balance and clearly not looking well.
The match halted for six minutes as Sonmez rushed to her aid after the girl collapsed and quickly got up. But even though she sprang back to her feet, it was clear that she was under duress as she struggled to keep her balance.
Sonmez can be seen on video raising her hand as if signaling to her opponent, Ekaterina Alexandrova, that they needed to wait a moment to determine if the girl was OK.
Sonmez and Alexandrova were in their second set when the girl by the umpire’s chair collapsed. And after Sonmez and Alexandrova rushed to her aid, the duo, along with the umpire, helped the girl stay on her feet.
The girl tries to brave it out, shaking her head up and down as if to signal to the umpire that she’s OK.
The video then shows the group helping the girl to a chair, where, again, she appears to faint.
🎾 During an Australian Open first-round match, Turkish tennis player Zeynep Sonmez noticed a ball girl feeling unwell and went over to check on her
👏 Zeynep accompanied the girl to the sidelines, receiving loud applause from the stands pic.twitter.com/0p90c12r5h
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) January 18, 2026
“She was really struggling. She said she was fine, but it was really obvious she was not fine,” Sonmez told the BBC. “So I went to grab her and said ‘sit down and drink something, you’re not fine’. As we were walking she fainted so luckily I grabbed her. She was really shaking.”
The girl was reportedly sent home to recover from the incident.
“I always say it is more important to be a good human being than a good tennis player,” Sonmez said. “It was just my instinct to help her and I think everyone would do the same. I’m happy I got to help.”
