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US Open Ballboy Wins Epic Battle With Unlikely Insect Opponent

Tiafoe and Dimitrov were interrupted by a bug.

Stephen Douglas

A U.S. Open ballboy reacts to his viral moment.
A U.S. Open ballboy reacts to his viral moment. /

Frances Tiafoe beat Grigor Dimitrov in the U.S. Open men's singles quarterfinals on Tuesday night. After splitting the first two sets, Tiafoe took the lead in the third and Dimitrov retired during the fourth, sending Tiafoe to the semifinals.

The most tense moment of the match came during the second set when Tiafoe wanted a bug removed from the playing surface. That responsibility fell to one of the ballboys who immediately entered into a delicate dance with the grasshopper or whatever it was. The point is, the bug was quick and the ballboy had trouble corralling it.

After a few seconds of struggling in front of the sellout crowd the ballboy briefly appeared to let his basest instincts come into play and tried to stomp the bug. That's when another ballboy got involved and they were finally able to grab the distraction.

As the ballboy ran off with his hand triumphantly raised he got a rousing ovation. And then the reality that he was going to be written about online set in. Luckily he came out victorious.

Published
Stephen Douglas

STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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