Controversy over the disqualification of the Japanese Kato after an involuntary ball hit a ball boy

An uncontrolled hit ended the hopes of the Japanese Miyu Kato and the indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi at Roland Garros. Both were disqualified on Sunday from the doubles tournament after the Japanese tennis player accidentally hit a ball boy with a ball. The incident occurred when the Asian players were leading the second set 3-1, after losing the first to the pairing formed by the Czech Marie Bouzkova and the Spanish Sarah Smiles.

After finishing a point, Kato threw a ball across the court in the direction of the ball boy to try to speed up the game. But the ball ended up hitting the girl in the neck, who broke down crying uncontrollably. Kato immediately went to ask for his forgiveness.

Initially, the Japanese received a warning from the chair umpire, but a supervisor eventually disqualified the pair in the third round, after Bouzkova and Sorribes protested to the judge. In addition, Roland Garros withdrew the points and the money that they had obtained up to that moment in Paris.

“The warning was because the chair umpire didn’t see that she was crying and that she was in pain,” Bouzkova explained. “We told the supervisor that he should take a closer look, because we saw that the young woman was crying and that the ball went straight for her. It’s not like she bounced or if it were a slow ball,” he added.

The disqualification reminded what happened to Novak Djokovic at the 2020 US Open, when he was also eliminated after hitting a linesman with a ball he had hit in frustration.

However, on Saturday, the Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva dodged disqualification after sending a ball towards the public on the court Suzanne Lenglen, during her match against the American Coco Gauff. “Immediately afterwards I thought that it was very stupid of me, because it was not necessary to do that,” admitted Andreeva, who ended up losing the duel.

“It was completely unintentional. As a result, I have been penalized by RG (Roland Garros) with the loss of points and prize money. Thank you for your constant support,” said the Japanese Kato in a message on Twitter, in which he also apologized to the girl.

The decision to disqualify the Asian couple has received numerous criticisms on social networks, where it is considered that Kato’s action was totally unintentionalsince he only wanted to pass the ball to the ball boy with a soft delivery.

The comments They criticize the supervisor, the girl for bursting into tears due to a “mild” impact and also Sorribes and Bouzkova for drawing the attention of the chair umpire, in what they interpret as an attempt to have their rivals disqualified.

This Monday, Sara Sorribes gave her version of the disqualification of her rivals: “The people who are criticizing us did not see the game. Those who watched the game do not think so. The ball was twice as strong as what is seen in the video and we didn’t have any kind of attitude like that,” said the Spaniard.

Sorribes acknowledged that they told the referee about the incident, who had not seen it, but pointed out that the decision to disqualify the Japanese was made by the supervisor. “The rule is the rule. If Marie or I do that, we link arms and leave. There are people involved who deserve respect. You can’t make that girl have a panic attack like the one she had and cry for 20 minutes.. Anyone who speaks out on this topic would have to watch the whole game and it would change their perspective,” she said.

The Spaniard stated that she did not want to enter social networks, where she is being harshly criticized, so that it would not affect her participation in the individual round of 16 match, where she fell against the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad, and acknowledged that I was afraid of being booed when I jumped on the floor.

“But it is clear that there have been no bad comments,” said Sorribes, who also does not expect a bad reaction in his next doubles match because “The people who will come are the ones who saw the entire game”. “I adore Marie and I have a fantastic illusion of playing with her, it’s having a good time, having fun, sharing with someone I’m very fond of. It’s beautiful, we’re going to try it,” he commented.