Wow. "New balls, please" cries brave Gicquel
Spare a thought for Frenchman Marc Gicquel who went on to win his second-round tie at the ATP Halle tournament despite receiving a serve - travelling at 208 kilometres per hour - in the testicles.
The 30-year-old was in the second set of his match against German Benjamin Becker - no connection to compatriot and tennis legend Boris - when he was felled by the serve which scored a bulls-eye straight into his delicate area.
With the speed-gun showing the serve was 208 km/h, the game was stopped for ten minutes while the Frenchman had ice applied, discreetly, to his wedding tackle - in front of a 8,000-strong crowd.
In a show of brotherly solidarity, Becker went over to his pole-axed opponent to pass on his deepest - and heart-felt - sympathy.
Having won the first set 6-2, Gicquel came off the turf - to earn the respect of each and every man watching - and won the second set on a tie-breaker in what can only be described as a truly ballsy performance, which handed him a spot in the quarter-finals for his efforts.
Copyright AFP 2005
