Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the French Open on Sunday after a ball girl was inadvertently struck with a ball between points.
Kato and Sutjiadi lost the first set of their second round doubles match against Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes but were leading 3-1 in the second set. In between points, Kato swatted a ball in the direction of a ball girl. While there appeared to be no intent, the ball hit the ball girl and left her in tears.
Miyu Kato mendatangi ball girl dan meminta maaf pic.twitter.com/EZJINi95yW
— Dr. Samuel L. Simon SpKK (@DrSLSimonSpKK) June 4, 2023
Umpire Alexandre Juge initially gave Kato a warning, according to ESPN. Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo complained that rules state their opponents should be disqualified, to which Juge replied that the ball girl “didn’t get injured” and Kato “didn’t do it on purpose.”
Juge appeared to change his tune after he realized the ball girl was distressed. He spoke with the girl and some tournament officials, who reviewed what happened. After the review, Juge returned to his chair and announced that the match had ended in disqualification.
Kato was in tears as she walked off the court. She also apologized to the ball girl.
“It’s just a bad situation for everyone,” Bouzkova said. “But it’s kind of something that, I guess, is taken by the rules, as it is, even though it’s very unfortunate for them. … At the end of the day, it was the referee’s decision.”
We have seen some serious outbursts in tennis matches over the years, but that was not the case with Kato. It looked like she was simply unfortunate with where the ball landed. As a result, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo have advanced to the quarterfinals.
