French Open: Miyu Kato ‘sincerely apologises’ for hitting ball kid at Roland-Garros that led to disqualification

ByEurosport

Updated 05/06/2023 at 10:06 GMT

Miyu Kato has apologised after she and partner Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted after she accidentally hit a ball kid with a stray shot. The incident happened during their doubles third-round match against Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo. Kato said that while the incident was “completely unintentional”, she sincerely apologised to the ball girl, Sutjiadi, her team and their supporters.

Ball kid left in tears as doubles pair get disqualified for accidentally hitting ball at her

Miyu Kato has apologised after her and partner Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from Roland-Garros after Kato accidentally struck a ball kid with a stray hit.

The incident happened during the women's doubles third-round match between Kato and Sutjiadi, and Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, on Sunday.

Kato hit a ball up the other end of the court between points while they were leading 3-1 at 30-30 in the second set, having lost the opener on a tie-break, and it inadvertently struck a ball kid, who was left in tears by the incident.

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Initially, Kato was given a warning by the chair umpire, but Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo made him aware of the fact that the ball kid was visibly upset by what had happened. The supervisor was then called.

Eventually, it was decided by the supervisor that Kato and Sutjiadi should be defaulted from the match due to the incident, despite it having been an accident.

Kato has now taken to social media to apologise for the situation.

“I would like to sincerely apologise to the ball girl, my partner Aldila & team & my supporters because of today's unfortunate mishap. It was completely unintentional.

“As a result, I am penalised by RG by forfeiting my prize money & points. I appreciate all your continued support!”

'She's crying!' - Match halted after ball kid gets hit, doubles pair disqualified

In the immediate aftermath of the event, Kato was left very distressed by being defaulted and Sutjiadi had to comfort her partner as they came to terms with the fact that their campaign at Roland-Garros had been brought to an abrupt end.

Eurosport's Alex Corretja has made the case for the disqualification being too strict.

"You need to be careful where you put the ball because you can hit someone, as has happened," Corretja said.

'Too strict' - Corretja reacts to shock disqualification after ball kid gets hit

"She hit the ball girl, but I’m 100% sure she didn’t mean it, and she didn’t hurt her much or even a little bit. There was a lot of discussion with the referee and umpire. In my opinion, on this occasion, it was too strict to disqualify her because it was very slow.

"Of course, you need to respect the decision, but I don’t think it was as bad as to do that. I feel bad first of all for the girl, but as a tennis player, I don’t think it was enough to disqualify the player.

"It’s difficult because when you hit someone it’s risky, and we saw that with Novak [Djokovic] when he hit the line judge’s throat at the US Open. But that was harder and closer, and it hurt her.

"On this occasion, it hit the ball kid's back. It’s always tough, but you can see she was trying to pass the ball to the other side of the court. That happens many times, even if you hit your opponent or if the ball kids are running."

He concluded: "For me, it was a little bit too strict.

"It is subjective, and that’s the toughest part of the sport, when you judge something that you didn’t even see. Not even the chair umpire or the referee saw the whole thing happen.

"I don’t think it was hard enough or intentional enough. I know that it was not intentional. No one hits the ball intentionally to hit someone."

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