Two pro athletes assist ill, injured

Professional athletes get a lot of publicity for their stats, money and mistakes but at least two have jumped to the aid of others in the past week.

A  tennis player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,  helped a ball girl in distress Wednesday at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The Frenchman said he noticed the ball girl was unwell during the third set of his match, so he paused before serving and walked over to see what was wrong.

He put his hand on her back, and the ball girl handed Tsonga a ball she was holding. He then looped his arm through hers and escorted the ball girl off the court.

"I saw she was in trouble," Tsonga said. "It was normal to help her out of the stadium. I hope she's OK."

The ball girl was fine, just feeling under the weather, according to tournament organizers. And Tsonga won his match, beating Omar Jasika of Australia, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.

Six days earlier, NFL player Darius Fleming  saw a woman trapped in a smoking car in Foxborough, Mass. The New England Patriots linebacker kicked out a window, enabling her to escape, and badly cut his right leg in the process.

Fleming, 26, said he was on his way home from practice last Thursday when a truck up ahead slowed down to turn, causing a three-car collision behind it. He was behind the third car and pulled over to see if he could help.

What he saw was a woman unable to open her doors or windows as her car began to fill with smoke.

"I saw her panic on her face," Fleming said Wednesday as he discussed the incident publicly for the first time.

The 6-foot-2, 250-pound player needed a few kicks to break the passenger side window, cutting his right leg on the glass as he pulled it back out of the car. The woman climbed out safely.

"My adrenaline was going up and I wasn't thinking much about it. I was just thinking about whether she was safe," Fleming said. "Once I got her out of the car, she said 'Thank you,' I said 'You're welcome,' and I saw my leg and I got out of there."