DailyExpertNews
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A French Open doubles match ended controversially on Sunday when No. 16 seeds Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the tournament after a ball girl was hit by a ball.
After losing the opening set to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, Japan’s Kato and Sutjiadi of Indonesia were leading 3–1 in the second set of their third round match when the incident happened.
Eurosport coverage showed that Kato innocently hit the ball to the back of the pitch after a point, and although it didn’t seem like she intended to hit the ball girl intentionally, the ball hit her head. The tearful ball girl stood at the back of the field and was visibly shaken.
Chair Umpire Alexandre Juge issued a code violation before Grand Slam Supervisor Wayne McKewen and Tournament Umpire Remy Azemar appeared on Court 14. After discussions between the officials and the players, it was announced that Kato and Sutjiadi had defaulted.
The Roland Garros crowd greeted the news with jeers and boos, while Sutjiadi comforted Kato.
Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg tweeted: “Cruel call. The ball was not hit out of anger at all, just hit to the ball girl to keep the game going as it was the opposing team’s turn to serve. Ballenmeisje had her hands full, reacted late.”
It is not the first time that a player has failed a grand slam. One of the most high-profile incidents occurred in 2020 when Novak Djokovic’s US Open ended early after he was defaulted for inadvertently hitting a linesman.
According to the grand slam rule book, players “may not violently, dangerously or with anger strike, kick or throw a tennis ball within the tournament grounds, except in reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up)”
The Rulebook states: “In all cases of non-payment, the decision of the Referee in consultation with the Grand Slam Chief of Supervisors is final and not subject to appeal.”
A player who defaults loses all ranking points earned during the tournament, as stated in the rulebook, and all prize money earned during the tournament.