13 of the most ball-droppingly awkward Wimbledon tennis fails

 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

LONDON -- Let's admit it: whenever there's a lull in a tennis match, we all secretly start hoping that a ball boy will fall over.

This doesn't make us bad people; it's a natural human reaction, the same as the one that made you sort of hope someone would trip up when they walked across the stage during graduation; it's the reason You've Been Framed is still a staple of British TV after 25 years.

Luckily, Wimbledon's never short of a fail or two. We've rounded up a few fail highlights from recent years to showcase tennis' clumsy side.

1. This over-enthusiastic serve

2. And this painful-looking serve

3. Whatever happened to this guy

4. This hasty attempt to cover the court

5. This desperate attempt to make the return

6. Serena's attempt to pick up this ball

7. This incredibly dedicated fan

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8. This smash

9. This New York Times tweet, which didn't go down too well too with Scotland

Priceless fail by the NY Times, received some very angry responses - I can't imagine why ;) #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/UMi6PavkLk— Rob McDougall (@RobMcDoogie) July 7, 2013

10. And this MarketWatch bulletin, which doesn't know its Novaks from its Djokovics

#Marketwatch #fail on #Wimbledon #tennis pic.twitter.com/nuXcxJLGC5— Justinas Danyla (@LTPE) July 7, 2013

11. Whoever sat these two next to each other in the hope they'd hit it off

12. This eager towel-carrier

13. And this announcement, which hopefully marks the first of plenty more 2015 fails

GIFs via YouTube.com, via Gfycat.

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