‘He’s about to collapse': Terrifying scenes in Melbourne as ball kid faints during Australian Open mixed doubles match
The scary incident occurred during the second set, when Tim Putz rushed over to the kid, reacting to a member of the crowd screaming, “he’s going to collapse.”
The ongoing Australian Open 2025 saw terrifying scenes on Sunday, German-Dutch pair Tim Putz, Demi Schuurs took on Aussie duo John-Patrick Smith, Kimberly Birrell in their mixed doubles second round fixture in Melbourne. Putz had to rely on his instinct as he reacted quickly to the aid of a ball kid, who looked like he ‘was about to collapse’.

The scary incident occurred during the second set, when Putz rushed over to the kid, reacting to a member of the crowd screaming, “he’s going to collapse.”
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The German tennis ace put his arm around the ball kid before staff arrived to sort out the situation. Speaking on Channel Nine, a reporter informed, “Unfortunately one of the ball kids is unwell and that’s very unfortunate.”
Meanwhile, commentator Chris Bradnam said, “There clearly was a little bit of distress. It's been a scorcher of a day, over 30 degrees celsius. Need an ice pack and some fluid pretty quickly.”
Anne Keothavong added, “Not what you want to see but everyone doing their best to help. Help is on the way, not easy out there for everyone.”
Temperatures were over 30 degrees Celsius throughout the day in Melbourne. Meanwhile, after Putz rushed to help the kid, the other players came to support with towels and water. The incident delayed the match for 10 minutes. Putz-Schuurs lost the match 3-6 7-5 8-10.
During his career, Putz has reached a doubles’ best ranking of world No. 7 in 2022, and he has bagged ten doubles titles on the ATP Tour, consisting of the 2024 ATP Finals, winning it with Kevin Krawietz, and becoming the first all-German pair to achieve such a feat.
Meanwhile, even John McEnroe has spoken about the ‘brutal’ weather conditions in Melbourne. “Conditions are pretty brutal. It's currently about 32 celsius. Even toastier when you're on a hardcourt surface, the cement surface. Needless to say it’s important to get a quick start. I think that’s why you saw Draper stop playing, the heat got to him, you saw he had other injuries from the three five-setters,” he said.
