Jodie Burrage comes to rescue of unwell ball boy at Wimbledon… with a bag of Percy Pigs

Forgetting tennis, British player Jodie Burrage impressed at Wimbledon when she came to the rescue of an unwell ball boy with some Percy Pig sweets.

Quick-thinking Burrage noticed the ball boy appeared unsteady on his feet and, when he took a seat behind her service line, she rushed to the player fridge to fetch an energy drink. She also gave him an energy gel from her personal bag to help perk him up, and crouched in front of him to see if he was okay. 

Thanks to the help of a generous member of the crowd, 23-year-old Burrage was also able to offer him a few of the pig-shaped gummy sweets, too. 

It was alarming that the British No 5 was the fastest to act on Court 18, considering she had her first-round match against Lesia Tsurenko to focus on – and was trailing 5-2 in the first set when the break began. 

But it took five minutes for medical care to arrive for the stricken ball boy, and Burrage’s opponent Tsurenko looked concerned, too, leaning over the net to see if the boy was alright while the wait for official help ensued.

It was the second break in play for Burrage and Tsurenko, who had the match suspended due to rain earlier in the day. The ball boy was later treated by paramedics and left in a wheelchair.

Unfortunately Burrage was unable to claw her way back into the first-round match. Despite a strong grass-court showing this season, which included making the final of a Challenger event and beating world No 4 Paula Badosa in Eastbourne, she ended up losing 6-2 6-3 to Tsurenko.

There is plenty of other British involvement on Monday at SW19. Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray open their tournaments later in the day, while Cameron Norrie, Ryan Peniston, Heather Watson, Jay Clark, Katie Swan and Lily Miyazaki all get up and running.