Carrie Bickmore reveals shocking encounter with tennis icon Ivan Lendl

Carrie Bickmore has revealed a shocking encounter she had as a child with tennis icon Ivan Lendl. The radio star's admission came as she was taking a stroll through the Walk Of Champions at the Australian Open with pal Nick Carr. Carrie took to her Instagram story on Wednesday to share a clip, shot by Nick, that showed her strolling through the display. She cut a stylish figure in a figure-hugging colourful striped mini skirt from the designer By Johnny, and a plain black sleeveless tank top. Upon seeing Czech-American tennis icon Ivan Lendl's name up in lights, Carrie made a beeline for the display. 'It's Ivan Lendl, she said excitedly, before Nick coaxed her with: 'Carrie, what happened with Ivan Lendl.' Carrie then revealed an incident from her youth involving the eight-time Grand Slam Champion that saw her carried away on a stretcher. 'He hit me with a ball,' Carrie said. 'I was a ball kid and he knocked me out.' Carrie added that the errant ball came of a serve from Ivan, no surprise, as he was known for having one of the most powerful serves in the business during his career. 'I had to be carried out on a stretcher. It was him,' Carrie said, pointing to the display of her on-court assailant. 'It was his fault. It was my fault, really. I was a terrible ball kid, but it was his serve. 190ks an hour!' Captioning the clip, Nick wrote: Quick pit stop for the most embarrassing story of all time. Thanks @carriebickmore.' The shocking admission comes after Carrie and her radio co-star Tommy Little dropped an engagement bombshell live on-air amid rumours they've struck up a romance. They announced on their Hit program on Monday that their newsreader Jesse Watkins had gotten engaged. 'Can we have some marriage music? There has been an engagement on our show, over the summer,' Carrie began. 'Jesse, well done!' Carrie added as the energetic newsman replied: 'She said yes!' The long-time radio anchorman had previously confirmed the news on Instagram on December 16, when Carrie & Tommy staff were on Christmas break. He shared a loved-up photo of himself with fiancé Caroline Varney, and both Carrie and Tommy, 39, took to the comment section to congratulate him. 'Yay yay yay!!! The best!!!' Carrie gushed and Tommy added: 'Well this is a bit f***ing cute.' Carrie and Tommy have been the subject of romance rumours ever since they hosted their HIT FM radio show from Paris, France in 2023. In November, the pair were spotted cuddling up for a photo behind-the-scenes at the ACRAs after skipping the red carpet altogether. Carrie split from her partner of 11 years, Chris Walker, in 2022, while Tommy has reportedly been single since his split from girlfriend Natalie Kyriacou in 2021. Tommy rushed to Carrie's side when she confirmed her break-up, leading insiders to speculate their friendship could evolve into something more . Carrie announced her split from Chris in an Instagram post in January 2022, saying the pair would co-parent their three children, Ollie, 17, Evie, nine, and Adelaide, six. 'It's with immense sadness that Chris and I have decided to separate,' she wrote. 'While this is a tough time, our focus is on parenting, loving and supporting our three children Ollie, Evie and Addie with everything we've got.'