--- title: Confused US Open Ball Boy Tried to Get Venus Williams Coffee description: The ball boy gets points for effort for trying to get Venus Williams her coffee at the U.S. Open. canonical: https://time.com/5663617/us-open-ball-boy/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-08-29T15:23:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:00:06.081Z og:title: Confused US Open Ball Boy Tried to Get Venus Williams Coffee og:description: He gets points for effort. og:url: https://time.com/5663617/us-open-ball-boy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bf056552cc8ba48/698a022722fb855f5ce29c1b/usopenvenuswilliams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: US Open Tennis Tournament 2019 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Confused US Open Ball Boy Tried to Get Venus Williams Coffee twitter:description: He gets points for effort. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bf056552cc8ba48/698a022722fb855f5ce29c1b/usopenvenuswilliams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Confused U.S. Open Ball Boy Awkwardly Tried to Deliver Venus Williams Coffee and We've Been All There > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=9f9f58ec-a7f0-45c5-be9b-f1da2ae52a8c&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 29, 2019 3:23 PM UTC  Venus Williams of the United States during her match against Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine in the Women's Singles Round Two match on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the 2019 US Open Tennis Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27th, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images) Venus Williams of the United States during her match against Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine in the Women's Singles Round Two match on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the 2019 US Open Tennis Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27th, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images) Tim Clayton - Corbis Corbis via Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 29, 2019 3:23 PM UTC When you’re working on the sidelines at the U.S. Open and [Venus Williams](https://time.com/5318227/time-with-venus-williams/) asks for a cup of coffee, you get her a cup of coffee. Delivering that cup, though, is an entirely different ball game. That was the unfortunate discovery on one ball boy who attempted to deliver a cup of coffee to the tennis star, and was left awkwardly holding the cup. It all started when [Williams](https://time.com/5382684/serena-williams-vs-venus-williams/), mid-match with Elina Svitolina, asked for a cup of coffee. It’s something the tennis star has done before, like when she asked her coach for coffee “[ASAP](https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1162060965904470016)” at the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament earlier this month. Sometimes you just need a pick-me-up, perhaps especially mid-match. At the U.S. Open, Williams’ friends in the stands heard her plea and went to fetch her some coffee, as [_USA Today_ reported](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2019/08/29/us-open-venus-williams-orders-coffee-walks-off-ball-boy-delivers/2149371001/), handing the cup to a ball boy who was more than happy to deliver the cup to Williams. The only problem was that after the cup was passed down to him from the stands, and the young man had made his way to Williams, she was already on her way to the locker room. He was left holding the cup, standing near the tunnel that leads off the court, clearly trying to decide how best to proceed. After a brief moment to consider his options, the ball-boy wisely opted not to follow her in, instead delivering the coffee to the bench on Williams’ side of the court. The [U.S. Open](https://time.com/5641513/watch-us-open-2019-free/)’s social media team captured the adorable moment and shared it online: > [](https://twitter.com/usopen/status/1166794464482004992) Ultimately, Williams lost to Svitolina in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5663617/us-open-ball-boy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5663617/us-open-ball-boy/"},"headline":"Confused U.S. Open Ball Boy Awkwardly Tried to Deliver Venus Williams Coffee and We've Been All There","datePublished":"2019-08-29T15:23:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:00:06.081Z","description":"He gets points for effort.","url":"https://time.com/5663617/us-open-ball-boy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","tennis","onetime","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bf056552cc8ba48/698a022722fb855f5ce29c1b/usopenvenuswilliams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bf056552cc8ba48/698a022722fb855f5ce29c1b/usopenvenuswilliams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Open Tennis Tournament 2019","caption":"Venus Williams at the US Open Tennis Tournament 2019","creditText":"Tim Clayton - Corbis Corbis via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5663617/us-open-ball-boy/","name":"Confused U.S. Open Ball Boy Awkwardly Tried to Deliver Venus Williams Coffee and We've Been All There"}}]}] ```