French Open tennis: 'Ouch, nasty!' - Line judge struck in neck by serve from Gregoire Barrere v Fabio Fognini

ByDan Quarrell

Published 30/05/2021 at 12:12 GMT

There was a nasty accident on day one of the 2021 French Open on Sunday as a powerful serve from Gregoire Barrere struck a line judge during his match against Fabio Fognini. The Frenchman fired down a massive delivery which the line judge could not quite get out of the way of. There was a wince from the crowd as the ball hit the official.

A poor line judge was accidentally struck in the neck by a big serve from Gregoire Barrere in his match against Fabio Fognini at the French Open.

Fognini, the 27th seed, let the serve go as it came in long and the official, perhaps thinking the Italian would return it, could not get out of the way in time.

Both Fognini and Barrere looked over to check the line judge was okay and fortunately, with no injury apparent, the game was able to continue.

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Indeed, Barrere shouted over to the official and gestured in his direction before continuing: "Are you okay?!"

Thankfully, the official appeared to be okay despite what was a very heavy contact in the neck area.

"Ouch! Aw, gosh that was nasty, wasn't it!" exclaimed Eurosport expert Annabel Croft on commentary at the time.

You needed body armour on for that one. Ouch!

"Good job it didn't hit them in the face!"

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While this was a complete accident and in the normal rhythm of the service game, it brought back memories of Novak Djokovic hitting a ball into the neck of a line judge at the US Open.

Djokovic was disqualified from the tournament due to the incident with the ball strike coming after a point in an emotional reaction, as opposed to a normal shot played within a regular point.

Then at last year's French Open, Djokovic suffered deja vu after hitting a line judge again - this time as a return accidentally ricocheted off his frame and straight into the head of a male line judge.

Watch Djokovic hit line judge on the head by accident

Fognini won through against the wildcard as he completed a straight sets, 6-4 6-1 6-4, victory over the French qualifier.

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Watch all the action from the 2021 French Open live on Eurosport, eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app with 13-time champion Rafael Nadal eyeing a remarkable 14th title at his favourite event and 2020 Roland Garros sensation Iga Swiatek aiming to replicate her stunning triumph in Paris.

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