'You can kick someone else's balls but you can't touch them'

Sports fans have been given guidance in the US about what is and isn’t acceptable to do with someone else’s balls, when you should get your own balls out and whose balls you can kick.

Laura Curran, a New York county executive, gave the advice earlier this month ahead of the opening of tennis courts. However, she was left a little red-faced after realising what she was saying was full of innuendo.

She said: Every player, unless they’re from the same household, has to bring their own tennis balls so that you don’t touch other people’s tennis balls with your hands. You can kick their balls but you can’t touch them.

She then paused before continuing: ‘I’m going to blush, sorry. Of course if you’re playing with someone in your household you can touch those tennis balls

‘To avoid confusion between whose balls are whose you can use a marker like a Sharpie to mark out an x or put someone’s initials on them.’

Her colleagues found it equally amusing and could be heard tittering in the background as she delivered her press conference in Eisenhower Park, Nassau County.

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