Extremely painful moment a man in the Wimbledon crowd is hit in the groin by a 96mph serve

A 96 mile per hour serve on your tennis balls at Wimbledon is definitely not the best.

The excruciatingly painful moment was captured live on television when Tommy Paul took on Alexander Bublik in the third round of Wimbledon earlier this month (July 5).

And it was the American number 12 who won in three sets against Bublik from Kazakhstan.

However, during the match, Paul hit his opponent with an uncontrollable serve, which landed straight into Mel Merrett’s balls.

Ouch (BBC)

The 51-year-old watched from the sidelines as BBC cameras captured the ball skittering off the grass and onto his crown jewels.

The father-of-two told The Sun: “I was just starting to relax and create a bit more space.

“Everyone around me cheered the point. No one really noticed that I had been hit in the balls except my friend.”

As expected, the graphic designer from Orpington, south-east London, said it was an extremely painful experience.

“I was in so much pain I couldn’t even pick up the tennis ball,” he added.

“What made it worse was that the BBC recorded it live on TV, so all my friends saw it.

“It still rings true.

“It definitely brought tears of laughter to many of my friends, despite my genuine tears of pain.”

Well, it seems karma struck as a few days later Paul was knocked out of the tournament by Carlos Alcaraz.

The Spanish defending champion secured a 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory on Tuesday (July 9) to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon.

“I felt the difference when I played on Centre Court and on Court One. The grass is different,” Alcaraz said.

“I definitely feel like there was more sand on Court One than on Centre Court. I don’t want to say holes.

The American tennis star has since been knocked out of the tournament. (BBC)

“There were more matches on Court One than on Centre Court, I had to adapt my game accordingly.

“I didn’t feel comfortable at all on Court One with the conditions that were there. Like I said, I had to adapt my game to it. I tried to play my best tennis.

“Yeah, I think I finally found it. I found my best tennis and my good tennis, just to feel comfortable with it.

“I know there will be matches where I can’t show my best tennis, even though I have to try to win them.

“I think that’s what the big three have done in their careers.

“That’s what I think. If I’m not playing my best tennis, I’m going to try to find solutions to just get a little bit better, just to beat the opponent.”

The tennis star will take on Daniil Medvedev on centre court today (July 12).