"Almost hit my friend in the face with his racket": Indian Wells ball boy confirms most unpleasant players including Zverev, Kyrgios and Shelton

A ball boy revealed the most pleasant and least pleasant players on the courts, including Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios, and especially Alexander Zverev. The fan shared their impressions on Reddit and mentioned several ATP and WTA players.

The ball boy has been working for several years at Indian Wells and mentioned some negative situations he experienced with some players. First, he mentioned Sascha Zverev as 'the worst' and mentioned that Alicia Parks spoke to them using bad words:

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"I've had so many really cool and crazy experiences, I'm happy to share them with anyone who's curious. The worst was Zverev, who yelled at me for giving him the wrong ball even though they all looked the same. He was losing.

"Kyrgios almost hit my friend in the face with his racket after the match with Nadal. Norrie and Zverev himself both yelled at a boy with Down syndrome. Alycia Parks kept telling us to give her the (bad word!) ball."

Coco Gauff at 2023 Indian Wells

The ball boy also mentioned Adrian Mannarino as there are comments he has heard about him being unpleasant, although he acknowledged that he has never been on the court with him: “I've heard that Mannarino is unpleasant, but I've never been on the court with him.”

Other main targets mentioned by the ball boy were Novak Djokovic and the young star Ben Shelton: “Shelton is rude and dismissive off the court, somewhat self-centered when he plays. Djokovic gets impatient when he loses and sometimes lashes out at the ball boys, but usually he does it at the umpires. There are also players who hit the ball boys for their behavior on the court."

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"Finally, he made a list of the players who have seemed the friendliest to him, highlighting among them Coco Gauff, Stan Wawrinka, Jannik Sinner, and Maria Sakkari:

"The best is Coco Gauff, she asked us to make a TikTok with her, but they were so bad that she never published them. The nicest and kindest are Stan Wawrinka, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alex De Minaur, Maria Sakkari, Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Emil Ruusuvuori, Ons Jabeur, Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz, Ugo Humbert and Gael Monfils.

“They are only nice when they win Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Davidovich Fokina, Nick Kyrgios and Fabio Fognini,” he added.