WATCH: Heated scenes as 2 players accuse ball kid of disrupting play; stop tennis to argue with chair umpire at Monza Challenger

The Monza Challenger recently faced two controversial incidents where players accused ball kids of disrupting their tennis game. Interestingly, both players went up to the chair umpire to make their points and express their frustrations.

During the second set of the opening round match between third seed Thiago Seyboth Wild and Mili Poljicak, the former hit a serve on the latter's backhand, which Poljicak had to move behind in order to return the shot. However, as he went behind and swung his racket, the ball kid placed right in the direction of the ball, squatted down seemingly as a precautionary measure.

The Brazilian, who looked to be distracted by the kid's movement, made a half-hearted forehand return, which hit the net, and he ended up losing the point. As soon as the ball left his racket, Seyboth Wild went up to the umpire to complain about the kid's movement and how it distracted him. Unfortunately, he couldn't convince the umpire and also ended up losing the match 3-6, 4-6.

Here is the video of the incident:

Meanwhile, during the second set of the match between Radu Albot and eighth seed Dalibor Svrcina, there was a point, on Albot's serve, where an enthralling tennis duel ensued between the two men. However, behind the ball kid behind Albot was moving his arms whenever Svrcina returned the ball.

Svrcina also suffered a similar fate to Seyboth Wild, as he ended up hitting the net and lost the point. He immediately went up to the chair umpire and told him that he was being distracted by the ball boy, but much like the Brazilian, his pleas also fell on deaf ears. Interestingly, though he lost the second set, Dalibor Svrcina got his head back into the game to win 7-5, 5-6, 6-4.

Here is a clip of the incident:

Tennis has been seeing a lot of controversies surrounding ball kids in recent times, involving some of the biggest names.

Iga Swiatek, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and other tennis stars find themselves in heated interactions with ball kids

Iga Swiatek - Source: Getty

During her semifinal match against Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Iga Swiatek had made a complaint to the chair umpire about the ball kids' movement. The Pole also smashed a tennis ball she received from the kid into the crowd leading to a cacophony of boos.

Felix Auger-Aliassime was interrupted by a ball kid mid-point at 6-6 during his opening round match against Alexander Bublik at the 2025 Dubai Tennis Championships. In a rare scene, the Canadian used the VAR and got the desired result.

Interestingly, at the 2025 Charleston Open, a ball kid threw an extra ball towards Zheng Qinwen, who wasn't looking in the kid's direction. Fortunately, the Chinese managed to catch the ball due to her quick reflexes and threw the extra ball in frustration, a behavior that earned tennis fans' fury.