It has been a tough few days to be a BBG. This gender non-specific term is how the young people once known as ball boys and girls are now referred to at Wimbledon, and they have been in the line of fire – literally – as the tournament’s big serving men have got under way this week.
On Tuesday Nick Kyrgios crashed a 135mph serve into the shoulder of a female BBG, who left Court 12 in tears to receive medical treatment. The following day Milos Raonic hit not one but two BBGs in his second-round match with John Millman. One of them, again female, was hit in the groin with a first serve that clocked 141mph. That’s faster than an inter-city train.
Speaking after his straight sets victory over Millman, Raonic admitted “you don’t feel good” when a BBG takes one to the gut. “The boy I think was okay but the girl I hit a little lower in the abdomen,” he said. “I think she probably took a little bit more of a grunt than he did, in that sense. I hope she’s doing OK.”
The Canadian went on to explain why he thinks BBGs might have been left more exposed to speeding balls: it is because of the current trend not only for big serves, but for directing them at the opponent’s body.
“Most of the time, if you hit it wide, it’s not going to get to where the kids stand,” he said. “It’s more when a serve is into the body and the returner just lets it go by, and where the kid, or umpire, or the line judge have their guard down. That’s when people tend to get hit. I’m not sure how long the kids are on court, but it’s hard to really stay focused for those 30 minutes.”
In actual fact, the BBGs are expected to be concentrating on court for an hour at a time. That they are subsequently given an hour off, however, shows how demanding the All England Club believes that task to be.
From as many as 1,000 applicants from local schools, the club selects 250 each February. They are then subjected to five months of at least two and a half hours of training a week. Physical demands are high and the rules are strict; prospective candidates must not only show good speed in shuttle runs but be able to roll balls flat and fast every time. They must pass mental challenges too, such as recalling the idiosyncratic demands of each top player, as recorded in a dossier given to each BBG.
While training is often based around match situations, there is no specific focus on helping BBGs react quickly to a projectile flying at their head at twice the legal speed limit. Neither are there plans to afford them any more protection by padding out their uniforms (the uniform has adjusted in recent years, legionnaire style patches of cloth have been attached to the back of their caps to protect from the sun).
Some hazards will remain part of the job, as another BBG found on Monday when Elena-Gabriela Ruse walked into him on court mid-match, her vision obscured by a towel wrapped round her head. That said, no one wants any young people to take a blazing tennis ball in the eye. With big servers continuing to thrive in the men’s draw, however, that risk remains.
It might be worth reflecting on the words of the women’s No 10 seed Madison Keys. No slouch herself in the serving department, she was asked what she thought of the big boys at the tournament.
“It seems like they hit 312 aces a match, and, I’m, like, ‘Wow, It’s 7-6 in the fifth and it’s been like an hour and a half,’” the American said after her second-round victory. “I’m going to be totally honest with you: I find it kind of boring, sorry.”
So let’s bring an end to the big-serve-and-volley era. For the sake of the children – and the entertainment.
