Jenson Brooksby ‘truly sorry’ after nearly hitting ball person in furious outburst

Jenson Brooksby has apologised for his on court actions at the Miami Open that saw him throw his racket in a fit of rage, narrowly avoiding hitting a ball person.

The American lost his cool during his 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Federico Coria on Thursday as his victory was soured by one particular incident in the deciding set.

When 4-1 up, Brooksby threw his racket into the ground which then bounced up into the path of a ball person, who was forced to jump out the way to avoid getting hit.

‘I am truly sorry for my actions out there today,’ he posted on Instagram.

‘I will learn from this and continue to grow on and off court.

‘Thanks to the fans for the support out there today! See you on Saturday! Round 1 @miamiopen.’

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>This is a better view of the Brooksby incident. 2 scenarios for a default (per a Supervisor) 1) The contact, even if unintentional, creates a serious injury. 2) If the act is intentional. So letâs say a player tried hit a ball at the umpire, but missed, thatâs a default. pic.twitter.com/ECepplpkqq

Brooksby was only handed a point penalty despite Coria calling for stricter punishments.

His actions led to calls from some in the tennis world for Brooksby to be handed a much more serious punishment.

Former World No. 1 and Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki said on the Tennis Channel: ‘This definitely should be a disqualification.’

Australian tennis coach Craig O’Shannessy added: ‘That’s a default. That’s absolutely a default.

‘That’s positively a default. That’s clearly a default. I don’t know what else to say.’

Brooksby’s actions come less than a month after Alexander Zverev was handed a suspended eight-week ban for smashing his racket against the umpire’s chair at the ATP 500