Australian Open 2020: Rafael Nadal apologises to and kisses ballgirl after accidentally hitting her with the ball

Although the quality of tennis at Melbourne Park has been quite exceptional, the 2020 edition of the Australian Open has made the headlines for more than the game itself.

The air pollution was a concern post the Australian bushfires - and, the torrential downpours with and without accompanying dust storms have kept the organizers busy.

Generosity from the players has stemmed forth with Alexander Zverev pledging to donate prize money from each of his wins for the bush-fire victims - and the ball kids have been in the news too.

Frenchman, Elliot Benchetrit landed himself in quite a bit of soup, initially with the chair umpire and subsequently with social media critics the world over regarding an incident involving a ball girl.

Benchetrit had asked the girl in question to peel a banana for him while he was taking a breather in between games - the unusual request was frowned upon by the umpire who promptly informed the player that he had crossed the line.

The incident took social media by storm with the player forced to offer to an explanation while defending himself - and, as the Twitter commotion was raging, yet another ballgirl found herself in the limelight after taking a rather nasty hit which was followed by a reaction she could barely have dreamt of.

Nadal with the ballgirl

Rafael Nadal was up against Federico Delbonis when he misdirected a bludgeoning return of serve towards a hapless ball girl. The Spaniard immediately went over to check on the girl and planted a kiss on her cheek after she replied that she was none the worse following the inadvertent blow.

Nadal went on dispose of Delbonis in straight sets, but kept the ball girl in mind inquiring about her well being one more time and gifting her his coveted headband before leaving the court.