Miyu Kato, the Japanese woman who hit the ball girl with a ball, was the mixed doubles champion

A curious postcard left the start of the day on Thursday in Roland Garros, which had several Argentines on the field. In the first match of the day at the Philippe Chatrierthe Japanese Miyu Kato and the german Tim Puetz they were crowned champions of the mixed doubles tournament by beating the Canadian in the final Bianca Andreescu and to the New Zealander Michael Venus. What was peculiar in that consecration? That the Asian player lifted the trophy days after her disqualification from the women’s doubles, for accidentally hitting a ball girl with a ball, a fact that generated great controversy.

After winning the title with Puetz, Kato spoke again about that ugly situation that he experienced over the weekend and warned that he filed an appeal to have the points and prize money returned to him that he had secured for reaching the round of 16 of the picture of couples next to indonesia Aldila Sutjiadiand that they took away after excluding her from the contest.

“The last few of mine were very hard for me after the disqualification, mentally challenging. I want to thank everyone for the messages of support. Thanks to that positive energy I felt, I was able to win the mixed. I hope to be able to play together again Aldila against Sorribes and Bouzkova”, said the Japanese with a broken voice.

On Sunday, during the round of 16 match of the women’s doubles that Kato and Sutjiadi played against the Spanish Sarah Smiles and the check Marie Bouzkovathe tennis player japanese he involuntarily hit a ball boy with a ball. He went in the second and with the game stopped. The Japanese wanted to take a ball out of the court, with the bad luck that the ball hit the girl’s neck, and she couldn’t stop crying from fear and pain.

Bouzkova and Sorribes warned the umpire Alexander Judge what had happened and the judge gave Kato a “warning”. But then what Remy Azemarthe head judge of the tournament, and Wayne McEwenthe Grand Slam supervisor, went to the court to find out what had happened, the Japanese and her partner were disqualified.

Kato apologized to the beaten girl and left the court crying. “He was completely unintentional. As a result, RG penalizes me by losing prize money and points,” he later wrote in Twitter.

The Japanese received the support of players, ex-players and many users of social networks, who considered the punishment “excessive”. And Sorribes and Bouzkova were criticized – and even received aggressive and insulting messages – for having warned the judge of what had happened, in what was interpreted as an attempt to have their rivals disqualified.

Kato had revenge this Thursday. And after starring in one of the toughest moments at this Roland Garros 2023, he said goodbye to Paris with a trophy in his hands and tears in his eyes. But this time, they were tears of joy.

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