The 104th edition of the Australian Cricket started from January 18 at Margaret Court Arena. The number two seeded Scot, Andy Murray, was on action earlier today in the first round match against teenager Alexander Zverev of Germany. What happened next was an astonishing incident in the year’s first Grand Slam.
The World No.2 won the match in straight sets by 6-1,6-2,6-3. The German teenager was evidently inferior to Murray’s 28 winners to Zverev’s 23, with 20 unforced errors to his opponent’s spiralling 43 and won six break points to none.
But the biggest talking point of the match was when Murray was hit by Zverev after point. The incident took place when the German almost gave away the first game of the second set through an unforced error. The frustration of the 18 year-old was very clear as he lost the first set 6-1 and on verge of losing his first serve in the second set.
After the unforced error a frustrated Zverev took out a ball from his pocket and hit it with his racket. Interestingly, the ball traveled all the way to hit Murray, who wasn’t aware of the situation. Though, Murray saved his face from getting by the ball thanks to his awesome reflexes.
The chair umpire right away warned the youngster to be careful. Although the chair umpire also admitted that it wasn’t intentional but the match official called the German and told him to be careful whenever hit the ball. Especially that the ball could have injured his opponent.
However, the crowd found this incident very amusing. The crowd went on to cheer the 28 year-old Scot.
In the post-match interview Murray lauds his young opponent and said, “It seemed like all the games were going to deuce. He hung right in until the end. He’s one of the best young players in the world and he’s going to be around for a very long time. He made it very tough for me.”
