French Open: 'She's crying!' - Miyu Kato and doubles partner disqualified after accidentally hitting ball kid

Updated 04/06/2023 at 15:37 GMT

There was a distressing incident at the 2023 French Open on Sunday as a ball kid got struck by a stray hit between points from Miyu Kato as she was disqualified from the women's doubles, along with her partner, Aldila Sutjiadi. The pair were leading in the second set when Kato whacked a ball up the other end of the court after a point and accidentally hit the ball kid, who was left upset.

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

Doubles pair Aldila Sutjiadi and Miyu Kato were disqualified from their women's doubles third-round match against Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo at the 2023 French Open after Kato accidentally struck a ball kid with a stray hit.

Kato struck 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 hit a ball kid, who was left in tears by the incident.

Initially, the chair umpire gave Kato a warning, but Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo walked over to him to highlight the fact that the ball kid was visibly upset by what had happened and a delay ensued as the supervisor was called.

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"She is crying!" they informed the umpire, who then got down from his chair and went over to check on the ball kid.

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.

"You’ve hit a ball, and it’s hit someone, and they’re injured," the supervisor told Kato.

"You are responsible for that action. Even if it is an accident, you are still responsible for that action."

The drama led many to immediately recall the similar situation that saw Novak Djokovic disqualified from the US Open in 2020 after he accidentally struck a line judge by hitting a ball away between points.

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.

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

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 began.

"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.

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

"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.

"For me, it was a little bit too strict," he concluded. "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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Stream the 2023 French Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

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