Tennis legend Novak Djokovic has given a ballgirl the fright of her life with a cheeky prank during his dominant second-round win at Wimbledon.
The 24-time grand slam champion was on court for less than 100 minutes in his 6-3 6-4 6-2 demolition of Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Novak Djokovic pranks ballgirl at Wimbledon
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So relaxed was the 39-year-old that between the second and third sets when Tsitsipas was off the court for a bathroom break, Djokovic decided to have some fun with the ballgirl.
Djokovic was trying to cut off some material from his t-shirt when he asked for help. The ballgirl quickly came over to lend assistance, but got a massive fright when the Serbian flinched as if he had been cut.
He quickly apologised and the ballgirl had a smile on her face during once she realised that nothing had happened.
The commentators were loving it.
“It got me, too. I thought he got pinched for a second, that’s cruel!” Mike Monaco said on ESPN.
John McEnroe added: “That’s a tough dad move there. It’s cold as ice.”
Djokovic apologised again in his on-court interview after the match.
“This kind of thing surfaces when you’re two sets to love up,” he said.
“Stefanos went to change so I had some spare time.
“I’m sorry if I scared her. It was probably not that great of a joke. It made me a bit more relaxed.”
Djokovic’s latest win puts him on a collision course with defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
Sinner needed two tiebreaks and laboured at times, but rarely looked in danger as he beat Nuno Borges 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
World No.48 Borges provided stubborn resistance and was a point away from taking the second set, but Sinner was rock-solid when it mattered.
He did drop serve early in the second set, but having held the advantage to 5-4 Portugal’s Borges buried a routine backhand into the net on set point and paid the price as Sinner broke back and then reeled off six points in a row to win the breaker.
Afterwards he admitted that maybe going straight from the clay of Roland Garros, where he suffered a shock second-round defeat, the Wimbledon grass was ill-advised and next year he might play at Queen’s.
Maybe third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, now showing signs of making good on his potential, will test a man 14 years his senior. The Canadian eased past Croatia’s Dino Prizmic 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 7-5.
Auger-Aliassime and Djokovic have met twice, with a win apiece, but never on grass.
Eighth seed Daniil Medvedev enjoyed a four-set win against Spain’s Daniel Merida, French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli, seeded nine, beat Mariano Navone to set up a meeting with Australia’s James Duckworth and Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca was roared on by his yellow-clad fan club as he blazed past Jesper de Jong.
Francis Tiafoe, seeded 17, progressed, defeating Terence Atmane in a match delayed overnight. But fellow American, 16th seed Learner Tien is out, beaten by Hungarian veteran Marton Fucsovics.
— With AAP
