Indian kid has a ball on centre court

On a day when Sania Mirza made history on Court No 6, another Indian had an equally memorable outing at the Rod Laver Arena: Akshat Joshi become the first international ball boy ever to work on the centre-court. The Chandigarh boy is one of 32 youngsters to be chosen from thousands of applicants across Asia.

Before he left for the Australian Open, Akshat had dreamt about the thrill of working with the best. And, as luck would have it, Akshat found himself on Monday doing duty in the Serena Williams-Camille Pin match. As if that was not enough, the youngster returned later in the day to work in the Andre Agassi-Dieter Kindlmann match. Now Akshat wants an opportunity to see his hero Agassi in action with Marat Safin.

Akshat, who after hearing of the three-day selection trials in New Delhi, is one of the four ball kids — Mandeep Yadav (Chandigarh), Aparna Vyas (Bulandshahar) and Radhika Jadhav (Mumbai) — selected to represent India. Having been shortshortlisted, the four were put through a five-day practice at the Albert Reserve and Melbourne Park before the real assignment.