Weird stuff happened at the French Open when Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi defaulted after hitting the ballgirl. This disqualification was quite unusual because Miyu Kato did not hit the ball in anger or out of frustration. Apparently, the ballgirl was crying and the supervisor made the decision. Sara Sorribes and Marie Bouzkova were the opposing players who got the advantage of the disqualification. The chair umpire had initially opted for an ordinary warning,Ā explaining to Sorribes-Tormo and Bouzkova that the ball girl hit hadn’t been hurt.Ā The Spanish and the Czech, however, pointed out to the referee that the girl was in tearsĀ insisting on the disqualification of the opponents.Ā The chair judge then confronted theĀ supervisorĀ and then decreed the end of the match byĀ default.Ā Kato, who had previously approached the ballgirl to apologize and make sure of her condition, thus burst into tears.
Users on Twitter got also baffled by the decision since Miyu Kato did nothing wrong, and the episode was just unfortunate and the ballgirl was hit only on the shoulder.
This is really unfortunate. Miyu Kato wasn't striking the ball in anger, but she and Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified after it caught a ballgirl in the chestl.
The ballgirl was crying, Kato was crying, bad scenes š https://t.co/8PD7l2OueR
— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) June 4, 2023
