The job of being a line judge is a thankless task at the best of times but one of the drawbacks is being on the receiving end of some hefty serves from the world’s best tennis players, including Dominic Thiem.
The Austrian world No 6 possesses a monster delivery but mistimed his first serve well beyond the service line.
His opponent Juan Martin del Potro decided to move out of the way with the speed of the ball completely catching the line judge totally unawares during their Mexico Open quarter-final encounter in Acapulco
Despite the nasty blow, the line judge appeared to show no ill effects and smiled the incident off before Thiem followed it up with a second serve error.
Del Potro made no mistake to close out the match to maintain his hopes of securing a maiden ATP Tour title this season.
Click on the video at the top of the page to watch the unfortunate moment for the line judge…
You can watch the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship on Saturday, coverage gets underway at 3pm on Sky Sports Mix and via the red button on Sky Sports Action. Coverage from the Acapulco 500 also continues on Sky Sports across the weekend.
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