‘Scum’ – Sam Querrey goes scorched earth on Rafael Jodar ball kid controversy

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Rafael Jodar of Spain in action at the French Open
Rafael Jodar of Spain in action at the French Open

Sam Querrey has held nothing back when it comes to hitting out at Rafael Jodar’s critics following an incident with a ball kid at this year’s French Open.

Jodar progressed to the fourth round of Roland Garros for the first time in his fledgling career after beating Alex Michelsen in five sets on Friday.

But rather than focusing on his Grand Slam breakthrough, a clip of him appearing to make contact with a ball girl went viral on social media.

Many have accused the 19-year-old of shoving into the youngster, but Jodar denied this, and slowed down footage shows the girl tripped over some tarpaulin at the back of the court at the same time as the Spaniard gestures towards his father in the crowd.

He said about the incident, “I don’t remember which set it was, and she was walking backwards, and I think, I mean, I didn’t push her or anything.

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“I just, I was telling my dad, to give me the things that he was going to give me after my toilet break when I was coming back, but she was in the middle, so I think she was like trying to get out of the way, and she was going backwards.

“But I think she like fell, but not because I pushed her, because it was like something for like what do you call it, the map, the court cover, yeah, there was, it was right behind her, so when she was walking backwards, she fell with that.”

That hasn’t stopped tennis fans and even journalists from criticising Jodar. However, former world No 11 Querrey was having none of that.

The American said on the latest episode of Nothing Major, “I bet most of our listeners saw the ball kid thing with Jodar ‘pushing the ball girl’. It has pissed me off so much.

“He went like this [gestured] to his dad, and simultaneously, the nice ball girl tripped on the tarp, barely. And it floods the internet, ‘Jodar pushed the ball kid!’ and even some of the journalists here…

“Some of our peers… Twitter is stupid. He’s the nicest kid, he didn’t do it. Everyone attacks this great guy.”

Co-host Steve Johnson chimed in, “Do a little bit of work, there’s a second angle out there, it’s insane.”

After fellow host John Isner said it had gone all over social media, not just in tennis, Querrey called out the “scum” who propagated that anti-Jodar rhetoric.

Ex-world No 8 Isner added that he hoped Jodar wasn’t dwelling on this and was focusing on his last-16 match with compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta on Sunday.

Isner continued, “He [Jodar] was frustrated, we have all been frustrated on the court. He was going off to change clothes and what no one realised was that person in the crowd was his dad and he was just gesturing to him.

“It was a total optical illusion, he never touched the ball girl, it just looked like he did. I hope he is not thinking about that because he knows what happened or didn’t happen.”

Johnson added that anyone who doubles down on the anti-Jodar narrative during this French Open is an “absolute moron”.

READ MORE: Alexander Zverev reacts to Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic’s early exits at Roland Garros

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